A Forgotten Life
by Audriana.L.E
Summary: Troubled by mysterious visions of a past she's never seen, Drella must find out what once happened in her past, and figure out what to do about her future. Even if it costs her her life.percabeth included.after TLO
1. Visions invade my personal space

A Forgotten Life

This has nothing to do with my other story. I'm just trying this first chapter out for any thing that I might change or if I want to continue the story. So if you see it, review please.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own PJO at all. Nothing.

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Being part of the coolest clique in school has its ups and downs. Boy friends, girl friends, fights, rumors, people desperate to get in our group. All part of my life here at my school.

I live a considerably normal life. I go to school, do homework, things like that. My friends can describe me as smart, pretty, and maybe a bit devious. It was just life as we knew it. Nothing strange had ever happened to me, until that one morning...

"Hey mom," I mumbled groggily as I sauntered into the bathroom. She said something that I didn't hear correctly.

"What?"

"I...am so...tired...." she muttered, stifling a yawn. Most of my family were 100% not morning peoI nodded in agreement as I took out the hairbrush.

"I just remembered something," I said suddenly. "I woke up in the middle of the night and I couldn't see where I was so I moved my head but it banged against the wall-"

A sudden vision flashed across my minds eye, making me stagger. A bull's head was ramming into a wall. That was all. It went as quickly as it came. I knew it wasn't a memory of mine. I had never even seen a bull, let alone see it smash its head against a wall. I mentally shook it off, willing it away.

"Isn't that weird?" I questioned my mom. She nodded and continued to apply her make-up. I ran a hand through my hair and stared into the mirror. My almond-shaped eyes stared back, and I sighed. Just another day.

Days passed, weeks even. I had almost forgotten about the wierd bull ramming into a wall. It was a Friday and my progress report had come home from school. I thought it would be a nice, relaxing rest of the day. No, I was wrong.

"Drella! An 80% science average? I know you can do better!" My mom's voice was steadily growing louder. I looked up from my book.

"Mom, jeeze, chill, it's only for the last two weeks, that's not my whole average for the semester," I called from the couch.

"No, its not, and you are going to work harder in math." I sighed in frustration.

"Mom, you aren't listening to me! It's only for the-"

"I expect straight A's from you! I know you can!" My temper flared. My mind buzzed and I could hear my heart beat echo in my ears.

"You know what? Fine!" I shot up the stairs. I yanked the door open, and slammed it shut behind me. That's what set it off.

_I was standing high up in the air. It was around autumn, because there was a cool, brisk breeze and golden colored leaves fell around me. _

_"Drella!" a blonde girl called my name. My dream self whipped around. She was staring fearfully at me. She was dressed in old, Greek armor, and her golden locks were in disarray. "Percy's down there." I leaned over a three foot wall, and found that I was on a very large wall. Monsters and kids were marching up to the wall. A half-man half-bull was slamming its head into the wall I was standing on, sending tremors through the ground. A boy with a mop of black hair seemed to be fighting this army by himself. His sword glinted in the sun, and every time he sliced through a monster, they would disappear into smoke or dust. I turned back to the blonde girl once more, before launching myself off of the wall into the frenzy. I could hear her calling my name, over and over again. It seemed to echo, and all I could see were the golden leaves._

"Drella?" my mom's voice queried. My eyes felt heavy and my whole body ached,

"Mom?" she was bent over me, concern clearly written across her face.

"Are you okay? Nausea? Broken bones?" She gulped. "Hallucinations?"

"No, I just ache a little bit," I answered. I struggled to get up and she reached to help me.

"How many fingers am I holding up? What's your name? Who's the president?" I sighed.

"Three, Drella, and the prez of the US is Barack Obama. I'm fine," I insisted. She stood up and walked over to the door before casting a wary glance over her shoulder. I reached up to see if there was a bum on my hand, and I touched something strange. I pulled it down and found that it was a leaf. A yellow one.

The next day, the bus rattled along the road to school. I was talking to my friends, Ruthie and Caroline.

"Really? Not even skiing, he fell down the stairs?!" Ruthie exclaimed. We were all giggling at the thought.

"And get this, it wasn't even a lot of stairs, it was just three!" Caroline said between laughs. I glanced out the window, and saw a man standing on the curb. He wore baggy jeans, a large sweatshirt, Nikes, and a scowl. I turned away, but then craned my head for a second glance. But the bus turned a corner, and I couldn't see him. But what I saw was real; in the middle of his forehead, was one eye.

The bus screeched to a halt. Kids piled out, calling to their friends and listening to I-pods.

But I paid them no attention. Instead I was pondering what I had seen. Was I crazy? Was it because of the bump on my head last Friday? Was it because it was Monday and I'm always tired on Mondays? Or am I schizophrenic? Before I could come to the conclusion, I heard my name being called. I looked to see Lily and Eleanor racing towards me.

Eleanor was a blonde girl with caramel shade underneath. She had light freckles across her nose and cheeks. She was somewhat scatterbrained, but smart and funny, even if she wasn't intending to be funny.

"Drella!" Lily called again. I stopped to wait for them as they cam into the building.

"Guess what? I saw this old tree house club-thingy on the way to school, and just now, Eleanor told me that she had a dream about an old tree house, and-"

"Hey, can we talk about it at art class?" I asked. Lily smiled and nodded and she and Eleanor went off to their own lockers.

"See ya'!" I opened my locker and took out what I needed; textbooks, notebook, agenda, writing notebook, pens and pencils, and my reading book. I slammed it shut and was walking to homeroom when I passed Lukas and this other kid I had never seen before._ Must be a new kid, _I thought. Lukas smiled at me and I smiled back. The new kid nudged Lukas and he blushed. I grinned to myself as I walked into homeroom, but ice flooded my body as I realized something; the new kid had been in my last vision...

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So, I hope its okay. I'm still not sure about continuing and stuff.......

~Dwia


	2. I almost get stabbed with a pen

A Forgotten Life

I'm posting the second chapter for more feedback. I'm still not sure if I want to continue this, but whatever.

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All through math class I fidgeted. Curiosity was eating away at me like an animal that had not known food for many days. Math class seemed to take forever, the clock ticking slower every time. When it was finally over, I raced out. I was soon joined by Lily, Eleanor, and Alice. Like Eleanor, she had recently started hanging out with my group.

"Hey Drella," Alice said. I smiled back and gripped my drawing notebook.

"Hey."

"Did you see the new kid?" Eleanor asked, clearly excited.

"Hmm, no, why?" I asked, keeping the whole creepy-vision thing a secret.

"Really?" Lily asked. I nodded. "Well, he's in our class, and Hanna's gone absolutely crazy. You know how she likes Lukas?"

"Yeah," I answered, looking around frantically.

"Well, she's over him now and has devoted her life to try and impress Percy-"

"What?" I stopped. All three girls looked at me.

"Drella?" I couldn't spaz now. I gave a laugh, one of no meaning and totally fake.

"That's his name?" Eleanor and Alice giggled too, and I snorted to hide another laugh.

"Yeah, anyway, he's all she ever talks about now. Ugh," Lily rolled her eyes.

"She's being so annoying, today in homeroom, she came up to me and was freaking out and I couldn't understand what she was saying," Eleanor said. We rounded a corner in the hallway and got to the door where art class was. Mrs. Keegan stood there, in her little apron and smile.

"Wow," I agreed. All of a sudden we heard loud laughs and Lukas, Alex, Connell, and Percy rounded the corner.

"Boys, you're late," Mrs. Keegan said in an authoritative voice.

"Sorry, we had to show Percy the way here. He was lost," Lukas answered her. Mrs. Keegan's gaze fell on Percy and she smiled.

"Are you the new student?" she questioned him. He nodded.

"My name is Mrs. Keegan, I'm the art teacher. I'm sure one of the other students can catch you up on what we've been doing for the past few days." Mrs. Keegan then opened the doors and we walked in. Behind us, the boys were talking, just soft enough that we couldn't hear them. I strained my ears, trying to listen.

"What?" we heard Alex exclaim. Alex was Lily's boyfriend. He had brown hair, brown eyes, and his heritage was from Greece. Sometimes when he talked, you could tell. Connell had come from another school, some privet one, and had weird sandy brown hair that poofed up in a strange mushroom type afro. Alice giggled and nudged Lily who blushed.

We all sat down at one table, four kids to a table. I looked around and found that Ruthie was missing.

"Where's Ruthie?" I asked. "She was on the bus this morning." Lily shrugged, but Alice gave me an answer.

"She's in chorus for Bye Bye Birdie. Our performance is this Friday, and Mrs. Ross is working us harder than ever."

I nodded and took another glance at Percy. He had black, sort of shaggy hair and green eyes. He wore our style clothing, skinny jeans, Nikes, a sweatshirt, but he seemed different than us. Maybe he was just quieter. I didn't know.

"All right, take out you drawings," Mrs. Keegan called from her desk. We shuffled to the cabinet, crowding around it. People who got their stuff couldn't get out, and the people on the outside couldn't get their drawings. I happened to get my drawing and squirm out, along with Lily. We got back to our table. Alice joined us and we looked back to see where Eleanor was. Poor Eleanor couldn't get out and was trying at all odds to. She finally reached us and we had already started to draw.

"Guys, I feel really bad for Aspen," Eleanor said randomly. I glanced up and gave her a look.

"Was that random or what?"

"No, cuz, I was just thinking about it and it made me sad," Eleanor explained. Lukas had been dating Aspen for only a few days, and yesterday he broke up with her, and Aspen had been heart broken.

"Yeah, I feel bad too," I agreed. Lily nodded and Alice was too focused on her drawing to notice.

"Alice...Alice!" I said. I waved my hand in front of her face and she batted it down.

"Okay then..." I muttered. She looked up.

"Sorry, I had to get that one part done. What were you guys talking about?" she queried.

"Don't you feel bad for Aspen?" Lily asked. Alice nodded. Then it was silent at our table except for the small murmurings of pencils on paper. A few minutes later, I stopped, giving my hand a rest. I looked at my drawing, seeing what I wanted to do with it. A dragon was perched on the highest peak of a snowy covered mountain, roaring at the sky. Sunlight gleamed down at it and casted shadows on the surrounding mountains. I walked it over to Mrs. Keegan, wanting another person's input. But as I reached her desk, she was gone. I glanced around, hoping to see her bent over helping another kid, but she wasn't there. I shrugged, thinking nothing of it, and walked back to my seat. A few more minutes went by, I helped my friends get the shadings and glimmers just right, but still Mrs. Keegan did not come back in. By now I was frustrated. My eyes swept the room, and I noticed that Percy was gone too. Again, I thought nothing of it.

"Hey, where's Mrs. Keegan?" I asked Lily. She shrugged.

"I don't know. She was here before..."

"Yeah, so...where is she now?" I was searching for my answer.

"I don't know!" She sighed. "Drella, help me. I keep smudging it and its getting all messed up. Please." I went across the table to her side and was showing her the way to shade it on the particular spot when I heard the door open. I spun around and my hair whipped Lily in the shoulder. I turned back around, slower this time, and chirped,

"Sorry, Lily, hold up for a second," and raced off. Mrs. Keegan had come in the door along with Percy. Percy looked a little pale and Mrs. Keegan looked worried. I brought my picture up to her for inspection. She nodded and smiled like she always did, complimenting on certain little Drella qualities, but worry still clouded her eyes. I thanked her and put it back in my folder. I fumbled with it for awhile, but got it in. I sighed and went back to the table. What would make a cheery art teacher like Mrs. Keegan worried? And what did she want with Percy? He had hardly uttered a single word! I looked at Mrs. Keegan for awhile. She seemed her normal self, bustling along from table to table to help with pictures and projects, but I knew something was wrong. And that's when curiosity took over me. I was fixed on figuring out all of my questions.

After a few more classes, lunch came around. Kids flocked to the cafeteria, chatting and clogging up hallways. I needed to catch Percy before he went off to lunch, surrounded by a group of guys, or admiring girls. I spotted him, down the hall, trying to open his locker. Our school lockers were a pain to begin with, and the school didn't feel like changing them. I ducked, swerved, and squeezed myself through the throngs of people in the hallway. He stood with his back to me, still struggling with his locker.

"You sort of have to pull up and to the right. It's the only way," I said calmly. He turned around, hand holding a pen.

"Whoa, don't stab me through with a pen. Someone already sliced some guy's arm with a ruler last month," I said sarcastically. He blushed and put the pen away.

"I have to ask you something," I began, but before I could say another word, he cut me off.

"You're not here to ask me out, are you? Because some girl name Hanna just did three times."

"I'm-"

"I already have...a girlfriend, okay?" he turned back to his locker. I shifted my weight and crossed my arms.

"That is _not_ what I was going to ask you. I want to know why you're here," I said. Percy paused, and then turned back around to face me.

"Why I'm here?" he asked, bewildered.

"Yep, that's all I want to know." _For now,_ I added in my head.

"I'm here because I got kicked out of my other school."

"Oh, so you're a bad boy, sort of on the dangerous side? You have a motorcycle? Cuz Hanna will just eat that up, dude," I replied, sarcastically.

"No, a Prius-"

"A Prius? Even better. Hanna loves the environment." To my surprise, he laughed. He muttered something and turned back to his locker.

"What was that?" I asked. "I didn't quite catch that." Percy shut his locker and walked away, leaving me standing there, with no answers. I sighed and trudged off to lunch.

The end of the day came near, and I planned my interrogation carefully. When the busses came, I would ask him some more questions. Not much of a plan, but who cared? The bell rang and people filed out of history. I grabbed my bag and my sweatshirt and walked out, eager for a better explanation. I got to Percy's locker, but I found no Percy. I waited two seconds before my friend, Jared, walked by.

"What are you doing?" he asked me. I shrugged.

"Nothing, just waiting to interrogate someone. You?" I asked calmly.

"Nothing." Silence. "Are you waiting for the new kid?"

"No."

"Uh, then what are you doing?"

"I already told you." Jared sighed, exasperated. I suddenly had an idea.

"See ya later bro." I turned and walked down the hallway, towards the art room. If I couldn't find Percy, I would ask Mrs. Keegan.

I was outside the art room when I heard voices. I held my ear to the door, hoping to hear some of the conversation. But all I could hear were muffled voices. Mrs. Keegan's and Percy's.

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Okay, not much of a cliff hanger, but I hope that chapter was okay. Review please!


	3. I find something that can't be real

A Forgotten Life

Um, I can't remember if it says where Percy lives, but if he lives nowhere near the Empire State Building, I'm really sorry. Please don't flame if I'm wrong.

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I leaned closer, careful that I didn't push the door open. Soft murmerings could be heard inside of the art room. And suddenly, I heard part of Percy's sentence.

"...doesn't remember me at all...."

"Well..."

"And....Annabeth.....Titans...."

".....Camp Half......."

I leaned in closer, my converse bending against the floor.

"Are......okay?"

"I don't know...............need Drella..........camp." The bell rang for the end of the day and I bolted down the hall, catching up with my friends.

"Hey Sophie."

"Hey Drella." I looked over to where Sophie's eyes were looking. Her boyfriend, Juri, was walking a little bit ahead of us, talking to his friend Brian.

"Juri has a really spiffy shirt, there," I said. Sophie turned to me. She was trying to keep from smiling.

"Hey, that is not nice."

"But its true."

"I know, its _collared_."

"Well, he's not my boyfriend." Sophie laughed.

"Stephanie told Juri today that she liked him!" Sophie said suddenly.

"Yeah, I know." Silence.

"I found my lipgloss today." I turned to her.

"Aren't you going to tell me more about Juri and Stephanie?" I asked.

"No, cuz you already know."

"Okay then...well, call you tonight, Sophie!" I called as she borded her bus. Caroline and Ruthie were already on our bus, and I ran to the door. The bus driver let me in and I walked to the end of the bus where my friends sat.

"Hey, guys," I said, sitting myself in the space next to Caroline as they moved over. "Whats up?"

"Did you hear about the list?" Caroline asked me. I nodded.

"Yeah, that is really stupid! You can't be on the phone past nine? You can only have two sleepovers a month?" I asked her.

"Yeah, I know, right? And my parents think this is a great idea!" Caroline exclaimed. Ruthie sat staring out the window. I laughed to myself.

"What?" Caroline asked.

"Remember that one time when we were on the roof and then Buddy got out into the hall and was running around and your parents blamed you, not Diana? And then you guys were shouting and Katherine and I were just slowly creeping away?" I asked, giggling.

"What? Oh yeah!"

"And your dad was like, 'Caroline, you need to be more on top of things!' and you said, 'I was on top of the roof!'" I laughed again and so did Caroline. Ruhtie turned to us.

"What?"

"Nothing, I'll tell you later," Caroline told her.

"How's the play going?" I asked them.

"It's good, I guess. But Mrs. Ross is taking it way too seriously. We preform it on Monday if you want to come after the halfday," Ruthie said. We passed by the curb where I saw the one-eyed guy, but he wasn't there. I turned back to my friends and saw that Percy was on this bus, talking to Connell and Bobby. I shrugged it off, keeping it in mind for later.

When the bus came to my stop, I said bye to my friends and grabbed my stuff and headed off the bus. As the bus drove away, I saw Percy standing behind me.

"Hey, what's with you walking away from me when I was talking to you?" I asked him. He shrugged.

"I was going to be late for class..." he said. I gave him a look.

"Uh, you mean lunch?"

"Nevermind." We started walking down the street, cabs and cars passing us by.

"So why did you come go to my school?" I asked him. I knew there was more than what he was letting on.

"I had been going to all these privet schools, my mom thought maybe public school might work. I don't know, they all turn out the same..."

I stopped.

"What?"

"Getting in trouble, setting the school on fire-" My mind's eye showed me yet another vision. And this time it was worse than the others.

_"Annabeth! Drella! Get out!" Percy shouted. Fire leaped around us. The girl named Annabeth was staring at him, and I was pulling her away, trying ot get away from the flames._

_"I'll be fine for now! Just go!" Percy said, flinging his sword toward a strange beast. It disapered into a puff of yellow dust, making the falmes grow bigger. I was pulling on Annabeth, trying ot get her to come with me. But she pulled away and hugged Percy. He pulled her to his lips and kissed her on the mouth. It was a quick motion, but it seemed to last forever, time slowing down, movements slower. Annabeth and I raced through the flames, running, running..._

"You okay?" Percy asked me.

"Yeah," I replied, a little bit dazed. "So, tell me more about your girlfriend..." Percy gave me a quizical look.

"My girlfriend?"

"Yeah, you mentioned her before. I just want to know so that when I try to explain to Hanna and she asks what your girlfriend is like, I can tell her." Percy laughed.

"Okay. Um, where to start..."

"Uh, her name might be nice," I said, my voice dripping with sarcasim.

"Annabeth. She has blonde, slightly wavy hair, and she wants to be an architect. Anything else you want to know?" he asked, looking at me.

"Where'd you meet her?"

"At a camp. Maybe you've heard of it. Camp Half-"

"Moon?"

"What?"

"Camp Half-Moon. Its a camp in Massachusetts," I replied. What other camp had the word 'half' in it?

"Oh, no. It's in Long Island," he glanced at me. "Have you ever been there?" I thought for a moment.

"No, but I'm going there for spring break for a family get together with my aunt and two uncles," I answered. Percy stopped walking, hie eyes downcast.

"I gotta go, this is my apartment. See you later, Drella," he said, hurrying off inside the building. I walked a bit more, even though we had past my apartment building a long time ago. Hands in my sweatshirt, I sauntered down the sidewalk, making my way through the throngs of people. At last, I got to where I was heading; the Empire State Building. I walked intot he lobby. Buisness men strutted around in their suits, talking on cellphones and holding brief cases. I sat down on a couch, watching it all. This, strangeley, was my favorite place to think. The pretty receptionist, the bustling from one place to another, the clean, smooth floors. It was like it was almost magical...

I walked up the stairs to my apartment, pulled out the key, and opened the door. My living room greeted me, and so did my mom.

"Drella? Don't you have a little laundry to do?" she called from the kitchen. I groaned inwardly and grabbed the basket by the door. I walked back downstaris to where the basement was. In the basement were the laundry amchines, and the storage place. It was damp, dark, and musty. The florescent lights flickered ever so often. My Converse squeaked against the linoleum floors as I headed to the washing machines. Dumping the lights into the hole and adding soap, I began to make my way back upstairs when I passed the storage space. On impulse, I walked in, rumaging through things to find our stuff. I found a large, heavy box on it that read, "Drella's Stuff" in my sloppy handwriting. I smiled, and opened it. At the top was a box labeled photos. It looked as if it had been recently moved. I don't know, maybe my mom was looking at them. I opened it and began to look through them, my smile getting bigger as I looked back at the memories I knew so well. There I was, my first time at the zoo, there I was on the road trip to Virginia, and there I was riding a pony at a fair. I closed the larger box and brought the box full of photos back up to the apartment. It was difficult because the box was overflowing and things kept falling out. I reached my room and as I swung the door open to my room, the box fell out of my hand. I stooped down to pick the sea of photos up and something white caught my eye. I reached to pick it up and I stared at it. Why was there an envelope in the middle of a box of pictures?


	4. Percy mysteriously disappears

"Drella!" my mom called. I opened one eye, groggy and disoriented. "It's time for school! Get up!" I groaned and pushed the cat off the bed, and getting out myself. Picking out a quick outfit (white skinny jeans, a t-shirt, a sweatshirt, Converse...) I went to breakfast. I chased my cereal around its bowl.

"Today's a half day, did you know that?" I shuddered. That word. Half. It had been bugging me all weekend, coming up every where.

"Yeah."

"Do you have any plans for today?"

"No, not yet."

"Okay, call me if you change anything." I nodded, still staring at my breakfast. I kicked my feet at the rungs of the table before getting up and grabbing my bag.

"Drella! What about your mess?" my mom cried. I grabbed some toast and headed out the door.

"I'm gonna miss my bus!"

A few minutes later, the bus pulled into my high school. Hopping off, I hurried over to where Lily was walking.

"Hey Lily!" I chirped. She turned around, looking at me.

"Hey! It's finally a half day! Are you coming to the diner with us?" she asked. We kept walking toward the school. I looked around hoping that I could find Percy.

"Uh, sure. Are we just going to walk around and stuff?" I asked. Lily nodded. "Cool." I sped off toward my locker, opening it and shoving my backpack inside before everything collapsed. Glancing around, I found Percy walking in the door, laughing and talking to Lukas, Brian, and Juri. Rushing over, I stopped, breathless in front of them.

"Hey, guys," I said casually.

"Hey, Drella. Huh? What's up? Huh? Huh?" Juri said jokingly. I ignored the comment.

"I really need to talk to you," I said, addressing Percy. I saw Lukas look away and Brian and Juri looked at Percy, then me, and then Lukas. Percy looked confused.

"Uh, why?"

"Hanna problems. Serious Hanna problems." Brian laughed.

"I feel so bad for you dude...." Brian laughed. Hanna also had huge crushes *COUGH COUGH obsessions COUGH* on Lukas and Brian. Lukas stood there, staring at the floor.

"Oh my gods..." Percy muttered.

"Yeah, I know. Talk to you guys later, bye!" I chirped. Walking off, I went over to Lily's locker.

"Yo, Lilay what's up?" I asked her. She shut her locker.

"Nothin', Drellay." I laughed.

"You know, that doesn't really work for my name," I noted. She nodded and I went off to go talk to Aspen.

"Hey, Drella," she said.

"So are you comin-?"

"Oh my god!" she squealed. She whirled me around and stood there holding my arms. She was excited and blushing. I looked over and Lukas was passing by, his skateboard hanging from his hand and his hair flipped to one side. Aspen's heaven. I smiled to myself, sharing Aspen's feelings a small bit. It was like a movie. She sighed and turned me back around.

"You are really, really obvious."

"I know. He's just so hot." I laughed.

"You are obsessed. You have Lukas syndrome. You probably sneak into his house and watch him. You probably hide under his bed. Or you have secret cameras stashed everywhere and you sit in a cold, dark basement corner with one solitary light, giggling manically at the screen. Oh no, wait, you have a ladder set up by his bedroom window, and-" she steered me away, while I went on and on about what she did.

Classes came and went. School ended, and I grabbed my bag. I hadn't caught sight of Percy all day, except for that morning. I scanned the crowd, looking for his black hair when I felt a tap behind me. I turned around to see Juri, Sophie's boyfriend, standing there.

"What are you doing?" he asked me. I gave him a look.

"Uh, why do you want to know, stalker?" He shrugged.

"Just wondering..." Silence. Awkward silence.

"If you're looking for Sophie, she's in homeroom."

"Hey, do you like-" My heart stopped. If Lukas knew I liked him, even just a little bit, it would be all over the school before the bell rang.

"Percy?" Juri asked. My started again and relief flooded over me. I could answer this.

"No, why?" People never asked me these questions, except my friends at sleepovers. But that's like, a ritual, right? Juri shrugged.

"Just wondering..."

"Of course you would, Juri. Out of all of the people at this school, you're the one wondering," I replied sarcastically. Juri and I weren't actually on very good terms. He thought I was a big mouth (which I am certainly not!) and I thought he was a weirdo who is tall and is scary and looks bad in shorts. Oh well.

"Well, you talk to him a lot, so we thought-"

"We?" I asked. Juri was wasting my time. He shuffled his feet.

"You know what, Drella? I'm gonna go talk to Sophie!" he announced, pushing his way through the crowd. Seeing Percy at his locker, I came over.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked casually.

"Nothin', why?"

"So..." I had to cut to the chase. The bell would ring any minute and soon kids would be flooding out of hallways and rooms to get to their busses. "Do you know anything about these pictures? Because if you think this is some kind of sick joke, it's not funny." I handed him the envelope. Last night after dinner I had opened it up, and much to my surprise, found pictures of me at this weird place with Percy, that girl from my vision, Annabeth, and some other kids I didn't know. Percy took the envelope from my hand as if it were a snake, something contagious that he should worry about.

"Sorry about that, the guys dared me to do it." The bell rang. "Gotta go, bye Drella, see you at the diner!" Percy called over his shoulder as he walked to the doors. I hoisted my bag over my shoulder and followed the wave of kids out of school.

"Do we have to wait here this whole time?" I whined, shifting my weight to my other hip. Ruthie, Caroline, Katherine, Paige, Freya, and I were standing outside the Empire State building. Cars and taxis whizzed by us on East 34th Street, and the sun beat down on us like a magnifying glass over an ant.

"Why are they taking so long?" I asked. Ruthie shrugged and Caroline fished her cell phone out of her purse. She looked at it for a second, and then snapped it shut.

"Sophie, Diamond, and Charlotte should be here soon. I don't know where Lily and Alice are. And the boys should be here in a few minutes." We all smirked at Freya.

"I bet you can't wait to see B-ri-utiful!" Ruthie taunted.

"Yeah, well we all know that you 'want' Luky Wuky!" Paige laughed. Ruthie blushed and laughed along too.

"Oh my god!" Caroline said, pressing herself up to the glass door. "What is hottie Percy doing in there?"

"Really?" Paige squealed. She pushed open the door and I watched him get into the elevator. I sighed and rolled my eyes at the two fan girls.

"Do you want to stalk him?" Caroline turned to me, smile across her face.

"Really?"

"Sure, why not? My mom works in here, so its fine." Before my sentence ended, my friends were inside the Empire State Building, running over to the elevator. They turned to a strange looking guy who had just gotten off.

"What floor did that kid just go to?" Paige asked excitedly.

"Uh, to the top, but you girls probably-" They left before he finished.

"Sorry, they're a little obsessed."

"And annoying..." the man grumbled. He wore a weird striped shirt and a grumpy expression.

"Gotta go, bye! Sorry again!" I called as I dashed into the closing elevator doors.

"Where is he?" Caroline asked when the doors open and we got to the top.

"There he is!" Paige whispered. She pulled us behind the corner. She peeked out and then whipped back around, stifling her giggles.

"You guys are so weird," I whispered.

"But he's totally worth it!" Caroline whispered back.

"Guys, what if they come," Freya said.

"Yeah, we have to get back down stairs," Ruthie noted.

"Hold on!" Paige whispered, looking around the corner again. "Oh my god, where'd he go? C'mon!" she said, racing to the other corner and looking around wildly. She came back around, panting. "He's gone!"

Back downstairs in front of the building, we were discussing Percy's mysterious disappearance.

"You don't think he fell off, do you?" Caroline asked.

"I think we would know if he fell off. He probably saw Paige being a creep and went back downstairs," Freya said, laughing.

"You have his number, right?" I asked Caroline. She nodded. As if on cue, her phone rang, the song Dead and Gone floated out of her purse. She got it out and looked at it.

"Guys, it's from Percy!" she said excitedly. We crowded around her and her phone as she read it out loud.

"'Sorry. Can't go. Mom won't let me. -Percy' Well that's stupid!" Caroline exclaimed. Caroline's phone rang again and Caroline entered the next text message.

"'Can see you. Look to your left.' from the boys," Caroline read, looking to our left. There was Lukas, Alex, Brian and Juri rounding the corner. Behind them were Lily, Alice, Sophie, Diamond, and Charlotte.

"Hey, do you know why Percy couldn't come?" Brian asked.

"Yeah, he said his mom wouldn't let him," Freya answered. As we left to go to the diner, I looked up into the noon sky. I could have sworn I saw something beyond that cloud near the top of the Empire State Building.

"Guys, it's raining," Ruthie said. It had begun to sprinkle as soon as we reached the skate park, but that didn't keep Lukas and Alex from skateboarding. Diamond, Charlotte, Sophie, Lily, Alex, Ruthie, Lukas, Caroline and I had split up with all the other people, and Brian and Juri had gone home almost an hour ago. Ruthie, Caroline, Lily, and I stood around and watched the boys skateboard and Diamond, Sophie and Charlotte were sitting down on the curb talking and texting.

"Yeah, I know, Ruthie. It's been raining for like, and hour," Caroline said, wiping the rain off the screen of her phone. Ruthie and I turned to watch Lukas and Alex skateboarding and Ruthie smiled.

"Lukas looks so hot with his hair wet," she whispered. Caroline and I smiled and giggled. "It'd be even better if he didn't have a shirt on."

"Ruthie!" I exclaimed, laughing. "You are so weird!"

"But it's true!" Ruthie protested. I nodded. Over by the ramp, Lukas was watching Alex chase the skateboard down.

"Yeah, you are right," I whispered. We bent are heads together as we whispered, giggling and watching them. Lily was watching us and laughing. Pretty soon, the two boys noticed and began whispering of their own. It was like we were in sixth grade, whispering to our friends and giggling. Lily pulled us back around and we began talking again. Over head, thunder rumbled.

"I can't believe Alex knocked your phone into the bowl," Ruthie said. Caroline checked it again, just to make sure it was fine.

"Don't diss my boyfriend!" Lily laughed.

"Sorry, Lils. Anyway, do you really believe that Percy couldn't co-" Caroline started to say.

"Drella!" I turned around to see Lukas standing a little while away. "Did you just see that?" he asked. I shook my head.

"Sorry, no."

"Alright, I'll do it again. I just grinded that whole thing right there," Lukas said, motioning to the box. "Okay, everybody, this one's for Drella!" he announced. I blushed slightly as he preformed the trick again. Before I could say anything, Alex started taking the board out from Lukas's hand and he and Lukas went off to the bowl. Lukas glanced back one more time as I turned back to my friends, smiling secretly as they gossiped about Percy.

* * *

Okay, more life-stuff than Greek-stuff, but I'm taking this slowly so that it doesn't seem too rushed. Hmm, I wonder where Percy is... :) Please review!


	5. More dream people!

A Forgotten Life

Sorry for not updating in awhile. My friend's dad bought me the Last Olympian (yay! He's super super nice! I practically live at their house!) And I've been reading it. Hestia rocks!

And I know that Nico's twelve and can't be in high school, but I do have an explanation, so do not flame me on that.

* * *

_Sitting by a lonely creek out in the middle of the woods sat a boy. His hair had turned silver in the moon light and he sat on the bank, picking at small, white flowers growing beside him._

_"Drella..." he whispered, looking up into the moon and throwing the petals into the brook. The floated away, swirling in the current._

_"Why'd you have to do this?" he whispered. "Why, father?" I took a step toward him, my feet making almost no sound on the forest floor. He whirled around, brandishing a black sword, glinting menacingly in the light. I held my hands up and he faltered and lowered his sword._

_"Drella?" he asked curiously. I felt myself nodding. The boy looked around nervously like he wasn't supposed to be out here._

_"Drella, you have to listen to me; stay close to your friends. Listen to Percy. I'll be visiting soon, but there's no guarantee I can tell you," he said, stepping toward me._

_"Okay."_

_"Good-bye, Drella. Hope to see you soon." His face was worried and he seemed sad and withered. _

_My dream swirled leaving me in a big room, with a ceiling decorated with the night sky. My mother sat at a fire, but as she turned around, her face was a dragon. The dragon crawled out of her neck, leaving in inky darkness, battling a dragon with my bare hands. But as I somehow defeated it, I looked down at it and saw me, dying and bloody on the floor of my school._

"Drella!" my mom called. I opened a groggy eye. My spoon lay on the kitchen table and the sun shone through the window. My cereal bowl lay near my elbow that was propping my head up. "Your bus?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. I groaned and staggered out of the kitchen. Monday morning back from vacation, two very not-good combinations.

"Yeah, and then-" Sophie and Natalia had their backs turned toward me.

"Ahem," I coughed. They whirled around. Alex, meanwhile, still sat at his desk.

"Omigosh, DRELLA!" Sophie glomped me, and Natalia jumped in the background. "You were gone all break? Where were you all week?"

"Went to Long Island for the first time and got to hang out with my crazy Auntie Demi, my mom, and my Uncle Don."

"I thought you said your Uncle Don was okay?" Natalia asked.

"Did you here about Paige and Dylan? Yeah, they broke up. And now Dylan and Diamond are going out. Oh, and Ruthie and Lukas are going out now." My heart fell, but my smile grew bigger.

"Really? That is so cute!" I was happy for her, but I couldn't stop the nagging voice in the back of my head.

"Why do you guys make such a big deal of things like that?" Natalia asked as she hugged me. Sophie and I shrugged.

"So, what do we have first?" I questioned.

"I don't know. Our classes changed today. I think.... you have foreign language and I have math and Natalia had woodshop." All three of us groaned.

I took my seat next to Ruthie in Foreign language, hoping that this class would be over quickly.

"Hey, Ruthie!" I greeted her as she sat down. She waved. As soon as I had stepped out of my homeroom and into the hallway, I had been ambushed by my friends in talking and hugging before we got shooed off to class. As we waited for Madame Elliot to start class, I doodled on my folder, Lily was talking to Eleanor, and Alice was talking to Kayla.

"Bonjour, class!" Madame Elliot said happily.

"Bonjour, Madame," we all answered. Ruthie tapped me and smuggled me a note without Madame Elliot noticing. I unfolded the paper and read it quickly.

_Tap __ur__ pencil if Lukas looks me. -r_

I nodded to her and propped my head up with my hand. After repeating a few review French words, Lukas, turned to stretch. His eyes fell on Ruthie and I tapped my pencil lightly, as if to a beat in my head. Ruthie smiled and Lily giggled. The world of giggling at the smallest things.

"So, party this Friday?" I asked Lily, Caroline, Katherine, and Ruthie as we walked to lunch. For a few days we had been fixing up this apartment since Ruthie's mom owned an apartment building. It was nearly ready, but we still had a little ways to go.

"Yeah!" Katherine exclaimed.

"Shh! We don't want everyone to know yet!" Ruthie whispered. I nodded.

"So, this Friday."

"What about those kids coming from their school for orientation?" Caroline asked. This Friday, these kids from another school were coming, like she said, for orientation, because their school was closing down or something. "We might find a few we might want to invite."

"Yeah, I'll ask my mom. In the meanwhile, keep it down!" Ruthie said. She put two fingers on her wrist and walked away.

"Hey," Percy said as he walked up beside me. "How was your spring break?"

"Good. Yours?" I asked him. He shrugged.

"I visited Annabeth, friends, hung out here..." Percy's eyes became far away, staring into nothingness.

"Whoa, earth to Percy..." I said, waving a hand in front of him.

"What?" Percy snapped out of it and he was looking at me.

"I gotta go now, bye!" I got into the lunch line and waited for it to move up. I thought about how he acted, how he seemed so far away, like the things he was thinking about were things I would never understand. I walked back to my table after getting my pasta and sat down next to Caroline and Lily. There was something he wasn't telling me. Little did I know, it was something that would change the way I look at things forever...

As I walked into lunch on Friday, I noticed a cluster of kids' huddeled by a table. The Farmington River kids were finally here. Joy. Not that I don't like new kids, I do, they can make lovely recruits, but these kids didn't seem our type of material. Unstylish (as far as I could see), scared, and not making a very good first impression. As I sat down next to Ruthie, I noticed a small boy with black-silvery hair in the middle, looking as if there were better things to be doing. He wore an Aviator's jacket, black skinny jeans, and Converses. As I stared at him, he turned around. He smiled half-way and gave me a wink before turning back around and pretending to listen to Mr. Costello.


	6. A crazy chick tries to take over

A Forgotten Life

Yay! Nico's finally here!

* * *

"What's up with the Farmington River kids?" Sophie asked during gym/recess. I shrugged. "Just look at them!" Jeeze, I was trying not to look at them! What was up with the kids from my dreams coming to my school? Hmm? Seriously! Because if this was going to become a regular thing, I hope I don't have a nightmare, cuz that would freaking suck.

Anyway, back to the Farmington River kids, they all were playing soccer on the field (except for creepy-dream-kid). I glanced away quickly as the kid met my eyes and grinned. Sophie and I sat down on the swings.

And if you're wondering why this high school has swings, I'll explain; its high school and middle school mixed together in a way. The building housed the middle and high ago when the middle school was turned into an office space. So, naturally, swings and monkey bars were a must for those weirdo school council group or whatever when they moved the middle school here.

"Oh no..." I groaned. The dream-kid was walking toward us, hands in his pockets of his Aviator's jacket. Why the heck would this kid be wearing a jacket so close to summer?

"What?" Sophie asked, averting her eyes to look at me. She looked over to where my gaze was directed at, but by then, it was too late.

"Hey, Drella, what's up?" the kid asked me. I stared at him.

"Uh, do I know you?" I asked, trying to shove my surprise down my throat. This is kid is new, a little shorter than everyone else, and he approached me and my friend Sophie and the first day. Not that that's a bad thing, just most people don't. They stick inside of their group of friends. But, whatever, this kid looked like a loner anyway.

"I'm Nico. I met you awhile ago. Maybe you don't remember." You would think I would remember him with his dark eyes and dark hair. His mischievous eyes and cunning smile. But I had never seen him before (except for my dream)

"Um, remind me where I know you from...."

"I think you of all people would know," he answered back.

"How old are you?" Sophie asked.

"Thirteen."

"Mmm hmm...I see..." Sophie muttered. "And how long have you been at this school?"

"Today would be my first day here," Nico answered, glancing at me and then back to Sophie.

"And do you know about our groups and cliques?" Sophie asked. She wasn't trying to be snotty, she was just asking. Questions I would have liked to ask him myself.

"Mutterings, a rumble or two. Why? Too concerned that there's a group in Farmington River you'll have to compete with?" he replied. "'Cuz Reagan and her little friends might cause you some trouble."

"Where's Reagan?" Sophie demanded, standing up and craning her head in all directions.

"By the goalie talking to her friends," Nico replied. "She said that you guys didn't stand a chance." That was it. Normally I don't like fighting. I usually stay out of it, but when a new girl and all her friends traipse in here and say that she's gonna take over as queen bee in one day, that's it. Sophie walked over to our friends, who in return walked over to Reagan and her friends.

"So, you gonna join them?" Nico asked.

"No, they'll figure it out. I'm not much for fighting," I answered, looking at him. He stared curiously at them, as if the idea that this was a fight made him laugh.

"So, tell me where I know you from," I said finally as I watched Reagan and her friends slink away. Nico turned to me.

"You know where."

"All I know is that you were from my dream! And I don't even think-" Wait a second. Did I just really admit that I saw Nico in a dream? Oh. Crap.

"There you go."

"You admit that you were in my dream?" Was this kid crazy? Then again, it _was_ my dream.

"Drella, it's time that I've told you-"

"Nico!" Percy shouted. He ran over before Nico could finish his sentence. "I need to talk to you..." Percy growled, glaring at him.

"Wait..." This was confusing. "You know him?" I asked.

"Yeah, camp, now c'mon!" Percy pulled Nico away and started talking to him. I sat on my swing, swinging my feet back and forth. I felt a tap on my back and I turned around, muttering,

"Why can't people just come up in front of me?" Reagan was standing there, and she did not look happy. Actually, she looked furious. _Thanks a lot, guys_, I thought.

"Can you tell your clique that they need to back off?" she asked. I rolled my eyes.

"Or what? You'll rake me with your finger nails. Earth to crazy, people around here don't get into cat fights. So you back off," I answered back. I never said I didn't have an attitude.

"Excuse me?" Reagan shrieked.

"Back. Off," I replied, standing up. "Or do I have to tell you one more time, since you don't look like the brightest kid around." Reagan stomped her foot like a two year old. "Oh, yeah, real threatening. I'm gonna get stomped at by a girl in a miniskirt and halter top. Which, by the way, does not match." Her lime green halter top with pink flowers on it did not in anyway match her neon green mini skirt with red stripes. How was she in a top clique?

Reagan backed away, staring at my eyes. I gave her a look as she walked away, looking around nervously for her posse. I sat back down on the swing. She had gotten so worked up about it. Sure I didn't like to fight, but I only used my attitude when I had to, and with the whole creepy Nico-dream thing and her acting like a brat, I think I deserved to pull it out. Nico sat down on the swing next to me.

"Drella, do you fight a lot?" Nico asked. I shook my head no. He shrugged. "I try not to." Percy sat on the swing next to Nico.

"So how was your little talk?" I asked him. Percy ignored my question and stared off into space. Somewhere inside the building, the bell rung. As we walked back to our classes, Nico whispered in my ear. My face went pale, and I turned to talk to him, but he was gone. He told me something. Something that happened during the fight between me and Reagan. My eyes had turned a different color.


	7. Nico DOES NOT LISTEN! JEEZE

A Forgotten Life

"So, we're inviting Nico to the party?" Lily asked as she set up the snack table. I shrugged but Caroline's head shot up.

"Yeah!" she exclaimed.

"'Kay, does anyone know his phone number?" Ruthie asked, pulling her cell phone out of her pocket.

"No, but Hanna does," I said, rolling my eyes. That girl was so desperate. Ruthie dialed her number.

"Hey, Hanna? Yeah, it's Ruthie. Do you know Nico's number? Hanna, I know I'm dating Lukas! Okay, thanks! Uh huh...yeah. Hmm-kay, bye!" she hung up and dialed another number. "Drella, you talk."

"Why?" I asked. She sighed.

"'Cuz you know him better! Just c'mon! It's ringing!" I took the phone from her hands and held it to my ear.

"Hey, Drella," Nico's voice came out of the phone. "Look, I can't use my phone for long." I felt my eyes widen. How the heck did he know it was me?

"Uh, yeah, so, we were wondering if you wanted to come to a party tonight. East 24th, address 375, apartment A71. You in?" I asked. There was a pause.

"Sure! What time?"

"Uh, five thirty is good. We have to wrap it up around nine though..."

"I'll be there now."

"No! Wait! We're not ready! Five thirty! 'Kay?" I shut the phone and rolled my eyes.

"You do know we're inviting a thirteen year-old to a party?" I asked. Caroline shrugged.

"He's almost fourteen."

"So?" I asked. This was so weird. Not just the thirteen year-old part, but the eye-color thing Nico told me about.

"Yeah, guys, that is sort of weird," Katherine agreed as she vacuumed the floor. "He's a thirteen year-old!"

"Well, you should have spoken up before we called him," Ruthie said, setting her phone down on the table.

"Yeah...that is really, really weird..." Lily agreed.

"Oh well, he's coming," Caroline said.

"Hey, guys? I'll be in the back." I walked to the back of the apartment. Thanks to Ruthie's mom, we had gotten permission to knock down most of the walls. It was just a large open space.

I sat down in the back room, hoping to get some peace and quiet. I took out my mirror and looked at my eyes. They were the same brown as they had always been. I thought about Reagan and how mad she made me. How she thought she could just do whatever she wanted. I blinked and gasped. For a split second, my eyes had been a different color. The light bulb above my head exploded, and I was left tin the dark.

"Drella?" I heard a knock on the door.

"Yeah, coming!" I bumped my head on the rack above me. "Ow..."

"Drella!" a voice shouted.

"Yeah, I know..." I opened the door. Caroline stood there, and in the doorway of the apartment, I saw Nico.

"What the heck are you doing here?!" I exclaimed. This kid did not listen! "I told you to come at five thirty! And what time is it now? Oh look at that! It's three thirty! Nico! You don't listen! Five thirty!" I crossed the space in five large steps. I put my hands on his shoulders and shook him lightly. "Understand? Five thirty!"

"Jeeze, I thought you said three thirty..."

"Nico, I said five thirty, and I know you heard me clearly. Now either leave, or help us. Which means leave."

"Fine!" Nico turned around and began to walk down the hallway. He stopped and mouthed the words, _Eyes_. My face paled immediately, but I tried not to act too surprised.

"Five thirty, Nico!" I called down the hall. I went back inside the apartment and shut the door. "Nico does not listen!"

Time seemed to pass slower than it should. We were waiting around for five thirty. Just waiting. We had picked out the movie we wanted to see, we had set up the projector and all that stuff, and the furniture was all in place. Five o'clock. Great.

"Let's call Lukas," Ruthie said, taking out her phone. We sat on the floor in these big chairs that seemed to swallow us with their fluffy goodness and fuzziness. Perfect movie chairs.

"Is Sean home?" Katherine asked. "'Cuz, I think Lukas, and Sean, and Alex are all over at Sean's house..."

"And Sean lives a few apartments down...." I continued. Ruthie smiled. "Drella, come with me." We stood up and walked out the door before any of the people back there could down the elevator, Ruthie smiled at me. A smile that made me smile and want to dry at the same time. Here was my friend, one of my best friends who was happy and content with her life. The girl who was dating the guy I liked.

"You really like him, don't you?" I asked. Ruthie's smile grew bigger and she nodded sheepishly. I pushed the button to the elevator and we hopped inside. The elevator started to go down with a lurch that made my stomach feel queasy. I sighed and closed my eyes as I leaned up against the walls. Elevators had never been my friends. I'm claustrophobic and afraid of heights, so being stuck in a small metal box that moves up and down a big shaft is not my ideal way to travel. The elevator dinged with each floor passing by us. By the third Ding! I was ready to throw up, tear myself out of here with my nails and scream...all at the same time. That just goes to show you how much I hate elevators.

"I'm afraid he doesn't like me anymore, though," Ruthie said as the doors opened slowly. I rushed out just when there was just enough space to squeeze through.

"Why?" I asked as soon as the words had registered. My ears perked up.

"Because he never seems to talk to me as much as when we first went on a date, and in the hallway I try to talk to him but he always acts like I'm not there. And I don't want to make a big scene out of it..." I shrugged as I walked down the hallway, looking for Sean's apartment number.

"He's a guy. We'll never know what guys are thinking. Maybe he's like... guy PMSing or whatever..." Ruthie laughed. I reached the door and I knocked on it. The door swung open, followed by a, "Hello, girls," and a lot of barking. Sean's mom stood in the doorway, smiling and their dog, Maddie, was barking with delight. I bent down to pet her. I rubbed her floppy ears and patted her head before I looked up. Behind Mrs. McTeige was Sean, Alex, and...Lukas. They all looked like they had recently gotten out of the shower. Their hair was wet, and Alex and Sean were hastily pulling shirts over their heads. Lukas was standing there with wet hair, a smile, and no shirt on. Ruthie blushed and so did I.

"If you want to come to the party early, you can. Katherine, Caroline, and Lily are all just hanging out up there..." I said nervously. Lukas grabbed his shirt and he, Sean, and Alex walked out the door and into the hallway to join us. Mrs. McTeige was still holding the dog back, so we thanked her quickly and got to the elevator. Ruthie, Sean, and Alex walked in, and Lukas held the door open for me. I took a deep breath.

"Um, I think I'll just take the stairs..." I turned and headed up, closing the door behind me. I was up to our floor, a little out of breath, but not scared to death. I opened the door and stepped out into the hallway, walking back to the apartment. I opened the door, seeing that the rest of them had just gotten in. Thankfully, Lukas had put his shirt on. Well... maybe thankfully. I jumped on the back of the couch and kicked off my sandals. Lily picked a song and the music blared out of the iHome. The door opened, and Nico, Hanna, Sophie, Diamond, and Charlotte walked in. Lukas sat down on the couch and I jumped off. It's weird to be the friend of the girl who is dating the guy you like and the guy sits down next to you on the couch. Oh, and you saw him with his shirt off. Forgot to add that in.

I walked to the kitchen and pulled out a soda and poured it into a glass. I looked over and Ruthie had taken my spot. Good. As Lily and Caroline got the movie in the DVD player, Nico came and stood next to me. Over to my right, the door opened and Cameron, Juri, and Colin walked in.

"Sorry for blowing up at you." Only silence. Nico took a sip of his drink and stared at Lukas and Ruthie. "Uh, Nico.'Oh, Hi Drella!' How are you? 'Good. Thanks for inviting me.' Oh, you're welcome." More silence. "Why the heck are you staring at Lukas?" I asked. Nico turned to me.

"Because I have to."

"Why?"

"I can't tell you or else Percy will yell at me again. But trust me, if I could, I would tell you."

"Nico, Percy's not even here." Nico motioned his head toward the door, flipping his hair. I looked over and saw Percy walk in. "C'mon! Just tell me!"

"Tell you what?" Percy questioned as he walked over. Nico raised his eyebrows at Percy and walked away as the movie started. Caroline flicked the lights off and I took my seat next to Ruthie. I know, weird, right? But she begged me too and I don't want her to think I abandoned her so..... Lukas had his arm around Ruthie, almost touching me, but not quite. Being in this position during the movie was not comfortably.


	8. BDAY PARTAY!

A Forgotten Life

Sorry for not too much Greek-stuff in the last chapter, but I'm building it up. So ha.

Plus, if you keep wondering about Lukas and Drella and who Drella's godly parent is and what's up with Lukas, I'm giving hints. Discreet hints hopefully, but hints none the less. VERY big hint for Drella in this. Like, huge. Hints for Lukas too, but not as big. Can you find them? IF YOU THINK YOU KNOW, PM ME! DONT TELL EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

* * *

The next week had passed without anything strange happening. The Farmington River kids even seemed to fit in okay. They asked questions, joined groups, and did their homework. None of them joined our group (with the exception of Nico), and Reagan seemed to have finally backed down. All seemed to be normal, and Diamond was having her birthday party. We were going out to the Berkshires where they had their summer home, and we were staying over night there and hanging out afterwards. Meanwhile, I was still pondering the eye changing color. I had seen it myself, but I didn't believe. There must have been a million reasons; lighting, mental problem, maybe even both. I didn't know, and neither Percy nor Nico were letting me in on anything. Not that I hadn't asked or anything. Honestly, they would have probably gotten one of those things that keep people away from you like, fifty feet or something. I can't remember...

Anyway, I finally got took a break when Percy...OH! A restraining order. That's it. Well, Percy finally threatened to go to Mr. Costello's our school therapist and I couldn't tell Mr. C why I was asking them questions. Oh well. And when Friday finally came, I was so glad for Diamond's birthday party for several reasons; PARTY!, weekend, I got to hang out with friends, and there was... Lukas. But then again, Nico and Percy were coming, so my questions would probably keep bothering me.

"Are we almost there?" Ruthie asked as we past y another random house on the long, rocky road. Well, not rocky, but it was dirt so.... bumpy I guess. Diamond turned around from the driver's seat.

"Oh, about...another ten minutes. I don't know! Stop asking!" I laughed and looked back. Diamond was driving and so was Charlotte in another car. Diamond was driving the van her and Sophie had borrowed from Sophie's parents to help fit everyone in. Guess who was in the van with me. Lukas, Ruthie, Caroline, Brian, Freya, and Sophie. And Diamond who was driving. It was a tight fit, but yeah. AS Diamond pulled into the long driveway, I opened the door.

"What are you doing?" Ruthie exclaimed as Caroline started to laugh.

"Drella!" Sophie yelled in astonishment.

"Drella! What the heck are you doing?!" Diamond yelled, looking into her rearview mirror.

"I've been sitting in this car for three hours. Bye!" I jumped out.

Now, how many of you have jumped out of a moving car? But the van wasn't moving very fast. Even as it got a few feet ahead of me, I could till hear Caroline cracking up. I turned around to look for Charlotte's car, but they had taken a stop to eat. They just couldn't wait. As I started to walk down the serene drive, I saw the door to the van open again, and who should jump out?

"Drella!" Lukas called. He was smiling and in the noon day light, his hair gleamed like the sun. He beckoned me forward and I walked a little faster. I caught up to him and he high fived me. "That was so awesome!" he exclaimed. I smiled.

"I couldn't sit anymore if I wanted to." That would be my ADHD kicking in. The whole way I had flicked Sophie's seat, annoying her so much that she almost made Diamond pull over to make me stop.

"Yeah, same." Lukas and I walked toward the house. We watched as the car parked and people jumped out. Caroline was doubling over in fits of laughter that made me smile. She had been stuck in that car _way_ too long. Ruthie was waving to Lukas and he glanced at me, _winked, _and walked over to her. I stopped in my tracks. Did he wink at me? Why? I kept walking and helped Caroline off the floor and I saw Brian helping Freya out of the car. Her brown curly hair was hanging in every which way and she looked flustered. Lukas and Ruthie were talking, and Ruthie suddenly laughed and I gave a little start. Caroline was walking to the door now with Sophie and Diamond and I was getting my shoes on properly.

As I walked inside, the wave of cool air conditioning washed over me and I sighed. I kicked my Converse off at the door and sat on the couch, as Diamond brought in the dog, Harley.

Harley was a Chihuahua. Harley was small. Harley was not my kind of dog. But no, every one in the room seemed to fawn over him except me and Diamond. Diamond was forced to take him because her mom said that he needed some fresh air. Diamond hated Harley.

"Who's my little red rocket man?" Paige cooed. I pretended to throw up behind her back and Diamond laughed. This was going to be a fun weekend.

"SLIP 'n' SLIDE!" Diamond yelled from the yard. I ran down the stairs and out the front door where everyone was. She had stationed up a slip and slide down this hill and a tarp. Brian ran, jumped, and slid down the thing. As he reached the tarp, Juri ran into him, knocking him into the bushes like a hockey puck. I giggled, and got in line. The boys still had there shirts on, but me and Ruthie were waiting for that precise moment when... ahem. Never mind.

Lukas when down, sliding into Brian and they tumbled down the rest of the hill, laughing the whole way. I glanced over at Ruthie and she blushed. Lukas and Brian emerged from the climb, soaking wet. Lukas was hunched over to keep his sopping shirt from clinging to his chest. Ruthie and I blushed even more and I bent my head down low to keep from showing my grin. Ruthie ran down the slip n slide.

"Someone go down it standing up!" Juri said. Eila tried, and fell. Ruthie was coming back up the hill when I heard Lukas say,

"I'm just gonna take my shirt off."

"Ruthie!" I called. "C'mere for a second! I need to tell you something!" she ran toward me, and I whispered in her ear. She giggled, and Lukas peeled his shirt off. Right then, the sun came out from behind the big fluffy white cloud, and I swear it was like a movie. I'm not trying to be weird or anything, but it was so true. Ask any of the girls there who saw it. It was like the sun shone brighter for him. I don't know whatever.

"Drella! Go!" Juri bellowed. I shot him a look and ran forward. I kept my feet in the balanced stance I had done when I went skateboarding or surfing. It worked. I heard clapping behind me, and I turned around to see my friends smiling at me. I pulled my hair into a pony tail and got a drink from the table. Harley or "Little Red Rocket Man" as Paige, Caroline, and a few other people call him, was running around my feet and yipping like a pyromaniac. I rolled my eyes, and picked him up and ran down the length of the slip n slide, letting him go in the middle. He yapped with pleasure and my friends laughed behind me.

"Donito!" Lukas said, clapping his hands. The little dog ran toward him on his front legs. Brian laughed and Lukas picked the dog up and ran forward toward the slip n slide, taking Harley/Little Red Rocket Man/Donito with him. I had to spit my Pepsi out of my mouth I was laughing so hard.

The rest of the party rocked. This weirdo cake delivering guy came and brought Diamond her cake a few minutes after we had set out the slip n slide. How many places do you know of that have a CAKE DELIVERING GUY? Seriously. We ate cake for like, two minutes before Caroline, Freya, Ruthie, and I started a cake fight. Genius, right? I ran around the side of the building, catching my breath. I peered around the corner and saw Brian dump a glass of Pepsi on Lukas's head. I picked up a plate a smeared it on Lukas as he ran around the corner. He laughed and rubbed his back on my shoulder, leaving me with an icing covered shoulder. I scooped it off and ran toward Katherine, throwing it at her. The yard was filled with mud, water, cake, icing, and crazy, immature teenagers running through the grass. And a crazy dog with no decided name. The sun shone down on us brighter (or else it felt like it) but there was a comfortable heat for the water and icing being sprayed around the yard.

"Nice," I commented as Brian jumped over the limbo stick. An hour ago we had run out of cake and frosting (and in Brian and Lukas's case, drinks) and we were sitting on the porch. At least the girls were. The boys were running and jumping over the limbo stick, seeing how high they could go. I watched as Dylan jumped and his chest ran into it.

"Okay, I have an idea," Diamond said, pausing the i-Pod that was playing music on the i-Home. "The zombie game."

"Oh! I love that game! How do you play?" Lukas asked, looking up from the ground where he was laying after recently falling.

"There are two 'zombies'. They have flash lights and they try and find the other people. If they tag you, then you're a zombie too and you have to find the other people that aren't zombies. Got it?"

"OH! Pick me!" Juri said, jumping up in the air. Diamond tossed him a flashlight and tossed Brian another one.

"Sweet, now I get to make zombie noises!" Brian said, examining the flashlight. I looked up at the fading sun. 7:30 and it still hadn't set fully. The last rays were bathing the Massachusetts land in golden waves. This game was going to be interesting. I ran off, as quiet as a cat and went toward the driveway as they counted. Climbing a tree far away from the reach of the ground, I sat down, hiding behind the trunk. I heard an eerie screech come from the house and laughing. I restrained myself from laughing as Brian came hurtling after Freya from behind the house. She was laughing so hard she fell and he tagged her by kissing her on the cheek. From here I could even see her blush. I blended into the shadows and minutes crept by. All I knew was that Juri, Brian, Freya, Ruthie, Katherine and Eila were zombies so far, but judging by the multiple screams, there were also some other who was just turned into "zombies". My head snapped around as I heard a rustle of leaves from behind me. Lukas was standing there, looking around wildly. I coughed lightly and he looked up.

"Are you a zombie?" he asked. I shook my head. "Good," he replied. He began to circle the tree next to me, and began to climb up, only to break a small branch or two and land back on the ground.

"How'd you get up there?" he asked. I gave him a suspicious look.

"Are you a zombie?" I asked, laughing.

"No, but it's only a matter of time," Lukas said, motioning to the yard where Paige was being chased by Caroline. I giggled.

"I jumped on that rock there and climbed up," I answered. Lukas stepped onto the rock and hoisted himself to the tree. I checked to see if the coast was clear and jumped down and dusted my shorts off.

"Where are you going?" Lukas whisper shouted. I shrugged.

"I dunno, but I've been in that tree for like, ten minutes. I'm gonna go follow a zombie..." I heard him laugh. I walked down the lane, the last rays warming my back and making my hair shine. This was summer.

As we sat around the fire, I looked around. Dylan had his arm around Diamond, Lily was curled up against Alex, Freya was playing with Brian's hair, Charlotte was fighting over a perfect marshmallow with Caroline, Percy was roasting a hot dog, Sophie was half asleep on Juri's shoulder, Nico was standing by the woods all by himself and being anti social, and Ruthie and Lukas were across from me, staring into the fire. I sighed as the fire rose up into the inky black sky, illuminated with the blinking stars and full moon. It reminded me of the time when I met Nico in that dream. It was so livid, so real. Almost believable. I coughed suddenly as the fire blew toward me for at least the millionth time. No matter where I moved it blew in my direction. Caroline had joked and said that the fire blew toward pretty people. I had smiled and said that pretty people must smell like smoke and get caught on fire a lot.

Paige was holding Donito as Eila made a smore. It was good to see most of my friends here, having fun and chilling out. Like it's supposed to be.

I got up and moved next to Caroline and Charlotte, trying not to look at Ruthie and Lukas. They looked so happy, content. Like there was no one else in the world but them. Lukas glanced over at me for a split second before returning his gaze to the fire as he put his arm around Ruthie.

I checked Caroline's cell phone to see what time it was. Eleven o' clock. I coughed as the fire blew toward me ONCE AGAIN. Brian started to randomly laugh and Nico turned around. Sophie gave a little start as Juri moved his position and I giggled. Diamond stood up.

"I'm gonna go inside and get ready for bed," she announced, turning and walking toward the house. Sophie, Lily, Alex, Eila, Paige, Freya, Percy, and Caroline got up and followed her sleepily.

"Woo hoo! We're the party people!" Dylan shouted, raising his hands in the air. "How about we go run through the forest? Huh? Anybody with me?" Brian laughed feebly and then pretended to fall asleep.

"Brian!" Lukas exclaimed. "You're so weird!" Charlotte was lying on the ground laughing wildly and deliriously. Ruthie stood up.

"I think I'll go too. Bye," she said, smiling at Lukas one last time and giving him a peck on the cheek. I tried not to wince.

"Same," Brian agreed. "If I fall asleep out here you guys are probably going to drag me out in the middle of the woods with a pen as the only thing to defend myself."

"Yeah!" Lukas yelled.

"Let's do it!" Dylan said, lifting up one of Brian's legs. "One, two, three! LIFT!"

"No!" Brian laughed, slapping Dylan on the back as he tried to lift him into the forest. This wasn't helping Charlotte's problem. She was rolling around on the ground laughing and I reached down a hand to pull her up. Brian tugged his foot away from Dylan and scrambled away.

"Come here! Brian! No! C'mere! I won't hurt you! Bri-BRIAN!" Dylan chased him around the fire. I was laughing too and so was Lukas who probably would've joined the chase if he wasn't laughing so hard. Brian bolted into the house.

"Hey! Come back here!" Dylan yelled after him. One of the upstairs windows opened and Paige's head appeared.

"Shut up!" she said, laughing.

"You shut up girlfriend!" Dylan said jokingly. Nico turned around to face us.

"I wish... never mind..." he walked toward the house. Ever since the cake fight he had been very quiet.

"I'll stay out here if you guys want to go inside," I offered, poking at it with a stick. Two years of Girl Scouts when I lived in Virginia had done me good with tending a fire.

"No way! I'm staying up and partying!" Dylan exclaimed, throwing a marshmallow at Lukas who batted it away. Charlotte stopped laughing and sat back down on her chair, wiping tears from her eyes and smiling.

"Gimme that!" Dylan said, reaching for the bag of marshmallows.

"Wow, Dylan," I commented. I poked the fire one last time as it went out. I stood up and pulled Charlotte up with me.

"I'm goin' in," I said simply and walked toward the house. I looked back at them as I reached the door. Dylan was grinning at Lukas and so was Lukas, but at me. I looked around to see if Ruthie was anywhere near me. She wasn't.


	9. Dreamer

A Forgotten Life

Yeah, this is probably my shortest chapter for the whole story. A lot on my mind, you know?

* * *

_The forks clinked against the plates. I was standing in a pretty apartment. Lukas's family sat at the table; his mom, his brother, and him. His sister was nowhere to be seen. I checked the calendar in their kitchen. 2004. Almost five years ago. That's why they all looked younger. I was stunned when a blonde man stumbled in the door. Lukas jumped up and ran to his side. Liam sat at his chair, staring at the guy. Their mom began to cry as the man whispered something in Lukas's ear._

_"How come you never told me he was alive? How come you told me he was dead?" Lukas shouted at his mom. She stayed silent._

_"It's my fault. I told her to tell you that," Lukas's dad said, looking down at him. He unpeeled Lukas's arms from around his waist and walked out the door. Lukas was left in the doorway as a single tear trickled down his cheek._

_My dream changed and I was standing in a weird pavilion type thing. Percy and a blonde haired girl I guessed was Annabeth sat together. She had brought him some sort of weird blue thing I couldn't distinguish from my distance. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but they suddenly leaned in and kissed. I could feel myself smiling and a bunch of kids jumped out of the bushes, laughing and cheering. They hoisted Percy and his girlfriend above their heads and I heard one girl say to take them to the lake. They carried them to the lake and I watched as they dumped them in. _

_My dream swirled again, leaving me on a bridge. A whole crowd of strange looking "people" were on the other side. I watched as a black haired boy plunged his sword into the pavement. The bridge shook and pieces fell away. A geyser had opened where his sword had struck. Even from a distance I could feel the spray. People behind me and in front of me ran for land as the bridge started to fall away. I scrambled and made it as a black, spiky haired girl pulled me away before the part I was standing on fell into the river below..._

I woke up with a start and looked around the sunlit room. I looked around wildly and felt the ground as if it too was going to fall into pieces. I sighed and pulled the covers over my head as the sounds of screeching birds met my ears. I groaned and finally got up. I couldn't believe that these people were still awake after all that racket outside, but we were NYC people. I got up and walked down the stairs and got a glass of lemonade. I pushed open the screen door and was surprised to see Percy sitting on a chair, talking on a phone. My phone.

"Yeah, I'll hope to see you after this weekend....Yeah, I know it's important. I'll be there. Okay, bye Annabeth. Tell Chiron and Grover I said hi. Bye! See you soon," Percy said, shutting off the phone. I took a step toward him, my arms crossed.

"So, you thought you could use my phone?" I asked, a smile playing across my lips.

"Well, you said I could use it."

"When?" I asked.

"Around six in the morning. I poked you and asked you if I could use your phone and you said yeah."

"After I turned over and went back to bed?" Percy just grinned and tossed me back my phone. I sauntered over and sat on the porch swing.

"So you were talking to Annabeth?" I asked. He didn't talk much about his girlfriend. Maybe he did with his guy friends like Lukas and Brian and stuff, but not around everybody else.

"Yeah," Percy answered, fiddling with the side of the chair. I nodded.

"Who are Chiron and Grover?" I asked casually, flipping the cell phone up. I hardly used the thing. I don't know, evey time I thought to use it, something in the back of my head said, _Don't!..._ Or I would forget it... either way; I hardly ever used it at all. Percy shrugged.

"Uh, friends of mine from camp," he answered. I shrugged.

"Cool. Do you have any pictures or anything?" I asked, taking my questions slowly.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure..." Percy shoved his hand into his pocket and pulled out a rather crumpled bit of paper. He straightened it out and then handed it to me. I turned it around to face me.

"Me, Annabeth, Grover, and the man in the wheelchair on the far right is Chiron," Percy said, smiling, his eyes faraway, stuck on some distance planet that were his old memories. A look that made me want to see his memories, to experience them, to hold the same laughter that he did, to hold them in my hand and inspect them. But instead I looked down at the picture. He was right. There was him, Annabeth, the boy with curly hair that I figured was Grover, but the man on the end... I lost my breath. My vision swam beneath my eyes and I was in another vision. I hadn't been in one in awhile. I thought they had been gone, but no, I was wrong. This one was one that would make even my horror-movie-loving friends creeped out.


	10. My vision, bday, and a fightagain

A Forgotten Life

FINALLY! The vision....

Oh, btw, a little thingy:

Hint for Drella's godly parent, if u know, don't shout it out.

A little peek at me and my friends fight, TWO DAYS AGO. Taken from the exact conversation my friend and I had, but I changed the names. Voila.

This chapter rated T for slight swearing.

Oh, and YAY! Chapter ten is up! DOUBLE DIGITS! Okay, w.e., here it is.

* * *

There was no other way to put this; I was dead. I was lying down, cuts and bruises covered my body and a deep gash in my head was oozing blood. Too much blood. I could feel my body (the one I was currently in) turn cold as I looked at my corpse, wanting to shake the body lying in front of me and yell, "Wake up!" but there was no turning back. How had this happened? Why'd it happen? And the ultimate question, when did it happen? I looked about twelve, but that was impossible. Here I was, at fifteen, and last time I checked, I was still alive. I looked up, tears streaming down my cheeks and found the faces of Percy, Annabeth, Grover, Nico, Chiron, and a few other kids staring at the twelve-year-old me that was dead. I closed my eyes and put my hands over my ears to block out the sounds in the distance, screaming and crying. This was too far. I needed to see a doctor, anything. These visions were too much for me to bear. Too much...

"Drella?" a familiar voice pulled me back into reality. I looked up.

"Yeah?" I asked, trying not to make my voice too shaky. Percy looked concerned and he looked at the picture in my hand. Yep, like he said, him, Annabeth, the kid called Grover and a man on a horse. Oh, wait, no, he was in a wheel chair. Wait, what? I handed it back to him as my sight began to blur again, and I shut my eyes.

"Drella, are you okay?" he asked, his hand on my forearm. "Drella, sit down." I sat down. "Are you okay?" Percy repeated. I nodded.

"Yeah, sorry, I'm just tired, that's all." I attempted a smile, and hoped that it worked. It did. Percy sighed.

"Okay, I'll go get us some lemonade." He stood up and walked into the house, and the screen door hit the wooden frame behind him.

It was three weeks since Diamond's party. Three weeks since I saw myself die. Three weeks. Next weekend was my birthday, and then three weeks after that, I could say goodbye to school for the summer. With summer tension, being with everyone for a whole year, and stress because of tests, a fight had broken up between my friends. It was around 4:00 and Sophie and I were talking on IM.

_Sophia's new status message - To much drama day after day. Nothing can ever just be simple can it. Why the lies, and not trusting. so many stupid petty games.. so many! __3:43 PM__  
me: r u ok??  
Sent at 3:44 PM on Friday  
Sophia: oh yes just peachy kean i mean its just wonderful to be lied to and not trusted and be told EVERY day how people talk shit about you behind your back and try to ignore it but still know thats its happening its just wonderful doesnt that sound wonderful  
me: ruthie said she was gonna tell u tomorrow  
at least thats what she said on the bus  
Sophia: thats not what i care about i dont give a shit about that  
me: but then we had to drop the subject cuz emily was looking over at us and listening to our conversation  
THEN WHAT R U RANTING ABOUT~!!  
being lied to  
i get it  
but how r u sure theyre lying  
BECAUSE ME AND U WERENT THERE AND NEITHER WAS DIAMOND SO U SHOULDNT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS  
Sophia: oh look whos taking sides  
me: AND IF THEY DID LIE TO U  
THEN THEY MUST HAVE THOUGHT THAT U WOULD TELL DIAMOND OR BE MAD AT THEM  
Sophia: stop using caps or i cant talk to you  
me: or something  
its sortof hard to tell someones really good friend or best friend  
that ur going to go to the guidence counsler to talk about the other persons really good friend/best friend  
its awkward and weird  
and i dont know  
Sophia: yes Drella you think everything is fine but its not okay every day i get told how this person said this about you and that person said that about you and i try and try to act like i dont care and ignore it but it fucking hurts okay  
me: maybe u wouldnt have gotten mad  
or something  
but they wouldnt know  
and  
so  
i just want both of u guys to tell both of ur sides  
because this is wat kind of happened at paiges bday party  
somepeople thought this and other people thought that and people accused people of this or that and so i dont want that to happpen again  
i like it when we're all friends  
Sophia: haha this shit has been happening to me since last year and i give up okay i just dont care anymore im not going to be treated like u guys treat hanna i wont put up with that  
me: and if we cant go like, a week without bickering and stuff  
then  
i dont know what we're all going to do  
cuz its obviously not working  
Sophia: this is how its been since 4th grade you cant just change that okay we fight  
me: well  
i bevlive that people can change  
Sophia: but now i have decided i know i cant change it so i just give up i cant deal with it anymore  
me: and i guess others believe that they cant  
it cant just be u to change  
everyone has to agrree and work together on it  
Sophia: well i believe people can change but i dont believe people can change someone else  
me: or else it wont work  
we're friends  
and im sorry if this sounds cliche  
or weird  
or like  
from a freaking speach or something  
but we have to work together  
Sophia: okay you know what this is just stupid obviously this is going no where i mean we arent even really friends outside of class  
you never wanna hang out with me anymore outside of school we dont sit together at lunch and we dont hangout at recess  
Sophia's new status message - there i give up i hope your all happy...ugh 3:54 PM  
me: uh  
i would totally sit with u at lunch  
except  
that  
I DONT KNOW WHERE U SAT TODAY  
IVE BEEN AT LILYS FOR SIX DAYS  
and so  
Sophia: not just today every day Drella  
me: u know what  
im fed up to  
im not going to have this conversation with u  
Sophia: haha wow i think i have the right to say that not you  
great i already said it was going no where and look im right  
so bye and dont bother trying to sit with or anything tomorrow cuz i will just leave you can count on that and one more thing is the only true friends i have arent even in my grade they are in the 11th grade  
Sophia is typing…_

I sighed. I had been trying to get out of this, but no, SOphie was so fired up. I knew she didn't mean it. I didn't do a thing, only had tried to be the peacemaker and shown her the other side's story. It was a little ironic that when last time we all got in a fight, Sophie's mom was the one telling us that we shouldn't assume things and make accusations without knowing the whole story. Funny, right? Not. I clicked out of Im before I could see what Sophie was going to say next.

* * *

Short chapter but I ran out of ideas. If you have any, tell me please! Plus, what do you think happened to Drella???


	11. How badly can a candle burn you?

A Forgotten Life

Sorry for the very long break there, people! Now I'm back with a new chapter! Hope it's okay, I'm a little rusty.

* * *

"Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Drella, happy birthday to you!"My friends sang. I smiled awkwardly. Finally my birthday! My sweet sixteen. It wasn't a big thing. My mom allowed us to have it on top of the Empire State building (one of my favorite places) with all my friends. And she wasn't going to be there. The stupid fight ended a few days later, and my birthday party was what we all needed to help us stick together. I blew sent a stream of air towards my candels and turned to laugh at my friend next to me who had just accidently stabbed herself with a plastic fork.

"Drella, aren't you going to blow out your candles?" Alex asked obnoxiously. I gave him a weird look.

"Yeah, they're the best part!" Brian exclaimed.

"Uh, I did," I answered.

"It's okay, Drella. So what if your lungs are so weak you can't blow out sixteen measly candles? Everyone has their faults?" Juri said, patting me on the back.

"Like your the friendly giant!" Lily exclaimed, laughing at Juri. I turned back to my cake and gave a quick burst of breath. Miraculously, the flames seemed to get bigger, but i let it go.

"You guys can do it," I laughed, grabbing a fork and plate. "The candles hate me."

"Oh! Me!" Lukas and Brian exclaimed. I nodded and let the two boys huff and puff as much as they could. Lukas attempted to pick up one of the candles and singe Brians hair, but only suceeded in burning his finger.

"Ow!" she yelled, shaking his finger.

"What?" Caroline asked, then preceeded to laugh at the sight of Lukas shaking his arm up and down and jumping. I couldn't help but giggle.

"Jeeze," Lukas said.

"You should really run that under cold water," Sophie said, examining it. She and Juri had broken up a few days ago, and everyone knew she was trying to get someone. Even if that person was dating someone.

"Really, it's fine," Lukas said, pulling his arm away from her.

"Drella can show you where the nearest bathroom is," Lily said absent mindedly, handing me a slice of cake. I nodded. Lukas looked up.

"Okay," he answered.

"Ooh!" Brian called as we walked toward the door. I saw Ruthie's face turn bright red and knew my face was showing the same symptoms. I willed the elevator to get up faster and soon enough, there was a small "Ding!" and Lukas and I stepped into the elevator.

"Is it bad?" I asked him as we began to decend. He looked up.

"Not really."

"Are you going to show it to me?" I asked him. He took a swift glance down at his hand, then showed me. I held his hand, palm up to examin it in the florescent light. Like he said, it didn't seem to bad. Then I saw the side of his finger.

"Lukas! What did you do, hold it in the fire?" I exclaimed. He laughed.

"No, well, sorta...I guess." I laughed, shaking my head. There was silence for a moment.

"So how's Ruthie?" I asked him. THings had gotten sort of shaky between them the last few days. She had blown him off the other day, and he had tried to call her and tell her he had to go on this family trip bt her phone was off and it was all just a big misunderstanding. But still, I couldn't help feeling a little excited.

There was still silence.

"Lukas?" I waved a hand in fron of his face. "Hello?"

"Hmm?" he asked, looking up.

"How's Ruthie?" I asked him. He shrugged and sighed, leaning against the wall.

"I don't even know."

"Is it all really that bad? It was all just a big understanding, right?" I asked him. It took him awhile before he nodded, as if he was holding back something.

"So why is it still bad?" I queried.

"She said her phone wasn't off and accused me of not being on this family trip because Alex said this stupid thing about this party and I went to that party the day after and it was just all of us guys and..." I nodded. There was an awkward silence. The doors opened with a shaky sliding noise and Lukas and I stepped out. Heading down the hall, I lead him toward the bathroom. He opened the door and I turned the cold water on. Lukas ran his finger uner it, but it still looked bad. I had wondered what a harm a candle could really do to someone. Lukas turned off the water and came out of the bathroom to where I was waiting.

"You didn't have to wait," he said, smirking.

"I don't know if you're all that good with directions! And I don't really want you roaming around the Empire State Building alone!" I exclaimed.

"So, you'll come with me?" he asked jokingly. I rolled my eyes jokingly.

"You are not exploring this building. Come on," I said, grabbing his hand and pulling him toward the elevator.

"Ow!" he exclaimed. I dropped his hand and stared wide eyed at him.

"I'm sorry! I forgot!" I appologized.

"What did you think we were down here for?" Lukas asked. "Anyway, it's fine. I think the water worked." I nodded and we continued back up to my party.

* * *

Staring out the window of my plane, I smiled to myself. It had been a good summer. Flying to California for the summer had been fun. I got to stay in a hotel by myself for the summer. Only two months. I sighed. It had gone by so quickly. I was surprised my mom let me go, but she said she had this thing at work and had to leave New York for the summer. So I went to California and my aunt checked in on me sometimes. Aunt Rodi was really nice and pretty much let me do whatever I wanted. No wonder my mom doesn't like me hanging out wiht her that much. But I hated her boyfriend. Something about muscly biker dudes with a knife revolts me. I don't know what Aunt Rodi see in him. But now it was an all new school year, a brand new start. Maybe I would have a chance with Lukas. Maybe.

* * *

"Drella! I missed your face!" Paige screamed as I walked into my hallway. She hugged me fiercly, not daring to let go. I had gotten used to this by now.

"Drella? DId someone say Drella?" Caroline asked.

"Hi!" I attempted to wave, but Paige's hug had pinned my arms to my side.

"Drella!" Caroline screamed, joining the hug.

"Drella! Drella!" my name spread throughout the crowd. I could see my friend's heads pop up like meerkats and hurry toward me. My three person hug had become a group hug and I laughed.

"Nice," I commented.

"Katherine, are you crying?" Lily asked, bewildered.

"Uh, no....?" Katherine answered, fanning her watered eyes.

"What's up?" Brian asked, fist bumping me.

"Whatever, come here," I said, hugging him. He laughed.

"Yo, AUdrey," Juri said. We high fived and I hugged him.

"What? Drella's here?" I heard Alex screech. He pushed through the crowd.

"Yay!" he yelled, mocking my other friends. He pulled me into a bear hug and faked crying. "I'm so glad you're back!" I heard my friends laugh.

"Nice, Katherine," Ruthie commented.

"Sean!" I said, high ifving him.

"No hugs here. Sorry, I have swine flu," he said, his face dead serious. I couldn't believe it. Sean had gotten swine flu? How? Was it okay for him to be in school?

"Are you kidding me?" I asked.

"Am I one to kid?" Sean replied. I shot him a look before hugging him. As soon as I took a step back, someone twirled me around. It was Lukas.

"I don't get a hug?" he asked, pupp god eyes happy. I laughed, and hugged him too. Ours seemed to linger longer than my other guy friends, and I hoped my face wasn't turning red.

"Who's in my homeroom? I have Mr. Koldys!" I announced.

"Oh! I do!" Freya exclaimed, raising her hand.

"Freya, why are you raising your hand like and idiot? We're not even in class yet," Paige joked. "Oh, and I do...so yeah..." Freya laughed. The bell rang and we scattered, waving to eachother as we went to our homerooms. Lukas looked over his shoulder at me, smiling. I knew it was going to be a good year.


	12. Party Life

A Forgotten LIfe

Sorry, I haven't written in like forever, so hopefully it's still good.... Sorry if it sucks, I haven't written in awhile....

* * *

_"Don't stop, make it pop, DJ blow my speakers up. Tonight, imma fight 'till we see the sunlight. Tick tock on the clock, but the party don't stop and now! Whoah-a-whoah a oh oh!"_

Thank goodness for the weekends, my only getaway. THe only time when I can kick back, relax, hang out with my friends, adn maybe even flirt. Okay, so I still do that even in school. Heh. Speaking of school, it was going well... ya' know, for school. So much drama, but the weirdness in my life hadn't reared it's ugly head in awhile. Everyone was really confused about Lukas and Freya's relationship. It started out bad, and just got worse. Jeeze. SO much had changed since that first day of school. A lot of drama (us getting into that huge fight with Diamond and hating her guts, the whole "thing" thing, Caroline and Brian...), a lot of laughing, and a lot of school work, no joke. It was like freaking crazy.

DId I tell you about Lukas yet? Heh. Sooo hot. Okay, so, like I said, a lot of problems between his relationship. Him and Freya...it didn't really seem good. She's always thinking about breaking up with him, and he doesn't even know if she likes him, and everyone just stands back and thinks, "Why don't they just break up?" So I try to talk to him, try to figure out how to fix this little mess, because as much as I like Lukas, Freya's one of my best friends, and I would never try to steal him from her. Okay, so maybe I've thought about it, but who hasn't? Cut me some slack.

Anyway, back to the party.

It was chaos. But good chaos. There were lights and music that blared in our earws, and no one could really tell who was who and there were snacks and talking and lots of dancing.

"Caroline, we have to make a music video sometime!" I shouted through the din. She leaned in and I shouted it agian, and she nodded, clearly excited. We were in the middle of a big group, all in a circle, and Caroline, Aaniasah, and I moved out to let Brian go in and dance.

Oh, speaking of which, Aanaisah, Hannah Cohen, and Trent were some new aditions. It soundslike they're some sort of item, but hey... it's a pretty poular group. Gotta recrute the new kids, ya know?

_"AIn't got a car in the world, but got plenty of beer. Ain't got no money in my pockets but I'm already here! Now the dudes are lining up cuz they hear we got swagger, but we kick em to the curb unless they look like Mick Jagger!_ "**(A/N don't know if I spelled that right...)**

Percy, Lukas, and Nico moved to the center of the circle while Brian moved out as we laughed at his attempt to dance. Nico had really lossend up over the summer, but not arround me. It was like he was Mr. Nice guy, totally outgoing with everyone EXCEPT me. It was kind of annoying. I always wanted to confront him, but I could never get the courage to do it. Just those black, dark eyes... they made me sad for him, I don't know why, but everytime I stared into his eyes my heart...hurt.

"Woo!" Lukas cheered and Alex was cracking up. Lukas, Aanaisah, and I were all dancing in the middle now, and our friends were cheering. Just another normal Friday...

* * *

After the party, Caroline, RUthie, and Aanaisah decided to go to Carolines to sleepover. It was only a block away, so it was easy to get to. As we were leaving, Alex, Nico, Percy, Brian, Lukas, and Trent rushed up as we were heading out the door.

"Wasn't I gonna sleepover?" Alex asked.

"Yeah, " Caroline answered. Before the dance, Caroline, RUthie, and I had gotten rady at Caroline's house, and Alex had been there too. Sitting there...being a guy.

"Whaoh, can we sleepover?" Lukas asked. I don't know if it was a trick of the moving lghts, but he seemed to catch my eye quickly before returning his gaze to Caroline. I could feel myself blushing, and I could only hope that the darkness would hide it.

"Yeah!" Caroline's parents were out of town for a week. My mom had to go on a buisness trip, and we had most of the week off. Caroline adn I had alrady made plans to stay over at eachothers houses, since I had moved into the top floor of this new apartment building that was HUGE! I was so proud of my mom for getting that raise. The problem, she's too quiet, and doesn't speak her mind enough. My dad always tried to teach me to be a little more loud soken, and I was working on it. I just felt...weird when I piped up.

"Sweet," Lukas and Trent did their little hand slappy fist bump thing that I can never find a name for, and followed us out the door. Caroline adn I lead the way, grinning at eachother the whole time.

* * *

"So what do girls even talk about during sleepovers?" Alex asked as we reached Caroline's apartment. She fiddled with the keys and Ruthie, Aanaisah and I turned to eachother and gave eachother looks. Normall we talked about who pissed us off and gossip in the school, and especially how hot LUkas looked, but with the guys sleeping over...

"Are you sure you guys can sleepover?" RUthie asked.

"I know I can," Alex said.

"If your parents said I could, I can," Lukas answered.

"My parents don't care," Nico replied, before looking at me and sweeping his gaze to the floor. That's what I'm talking about! It annoys the crap out of me!

We all looked to Trent, who stared back at me before slowly taking out his phone. We all laughed as he turned around and dialed his mom's number.

"The stupid door won't...frickin...." Caroline muttered as she leaned against it, key in place.

"HOld on, let me try," Ruthie said. She kicked it, and nothing happened. She shruged. "That normally works."

"Here, step back girl, I kick this shit in," Aanaisah exclaimed. She pushed us all back before delivering a kick to the door. It still didn't budge. I rolled my eyes and took the keys from Caroline. Lukas rushed ahead of me, and leaned against it, trying to open it. I calmly found the key, inserted it into the lock, turned it a few times before hearing a satisfying "Click!" and watched as Lukas almost hit the ground.

"Dip, you locked the door again instead of unlocking it," I told Caroline, throwing her the keys. She laughed nervously, and we walked in.

"I can stay!" Trent said, snapping his phone shut and turning around with his hands in the air. A sign of triumpf. I laughed at him and high fived him.

"Good job Pafoof." Trent Pfeiffer. Haha, I loved his name. Anyway, back to our fun little sleepover thingy.

"Thanks, Cinderella," Trent replied, laughing. LUkas whirled around at us, stopping a few inches from our faces.

"Wait, you guys have nicknames?" he asked, pointinghis finger at the two of us. Trent and I looked at eachother nervously before answering.

"Yeah, cuz Trent and me are buddies!" I laughed.

"I wanna nickname!" Lukas exclaimed kid-ishly. I laughed again.

"You name is cocky shithead," Trent said. I slapped him lightly on his shoulder.

"Trent, don't be mean to him! I'm gonna call you... Lukey..." I said. I put my hand on his shoulder as we walked in, leaning slightly on him. He put his arm around my other shoulder.

"What are we gonna call Alex?" Nico laughed.

"Greek lad!" RUthie yelled from the kitchen. I cracked up and had to lean against Lukas to support myself. Alex was sitting next to Caroline in the same chair with an idiotic smile plastered on his face. I giggled into Lukas's shoulder as Ruthie made a rediculously fake yawn and made the move on Nico, who laughed. Trent looked at Aanaisah and they both just started laughing.

"Yo, jewey baby!" Greek lad called. "Yo bouffey!" Alex yelled at Caroline, who collapsed in a fit of giggles.

"You better watch out, Drella. Freya's gonna kick your ass for sitting on Lukas's lap," Ruthie exclaimed. I blushed, but we all kept laughing.

"I'm not sitting on his lap! Are you freaking blind?" I joked.

"Guys, GUYS!" Caroline shouted. We all snapped to attention except for Alex, who explaining how puppies were born to Trent. I surpressed my laughing at Pafoof's uncomfortable facial expression, and tried to hold back the laughing tears.

"Guys! Alex!" Ruthie yelled.

"Now, then when you see it's little head, you just know that-"

"Alex!" Aanasiah screamed.

"It's just the miracle of birth and no on can replace it and-"

"Greek lad!" Caroline called. Alex looked up.

"Where are we all sleeping tonight?" Caroline asked. And for the first time that night, we were all quiet. But not because of the question. No, we were all staring at Alex, who was whispering how dogs gave birth and demonstrating it to Trent with his hands. And then, like a dam had burst, we all started laughing at once. I could hardly help myself as Ruthie fell from the stool, dragging Nico with her, and having Caroline fall into the sink because she couldn't stand up. Alex just stood there as we all laughed at him. I wasn't sure if I could ever stop laughing. The whole idea was just absurd. It was like we were all like high or drunk or something. Obviously, we weren't, but I did feel light headed from all of the laughing.

When we finally got our bed situation down (while Alex made crude, perverted remarks), I got on Caroline's ocmputer and looked up a movie we could see on NetFlix. I scrolled thorugh a bunch before the battery died. Which sucked. But we moved on while Alex stared upside down at the shelf of movies Caroline had.

"Do we have any pizza?" Trent asked suddenly, and I started laughing again. Just because it was random.

"Check the fridge," Caroline said absent midedly, waving him away with her hand. Me and him rushed to the fridge, digging through everything. I was so hungry, I was surprised that they couldn't hear my stomache growling.

"Pizza..." trent whispered, and we snuck it quietly to the pantry to eat it all, without anyone stealing it from us. But that plan backfired when I laughed at Trent bumping his head on a shelf of beans.

* * *

_Nico was standing on the balcony of Caroline's apartment, wind ruffling his black hair. It was cold, November wind, but it didn't seem to bother him. He stared up at the sky, leaning against the railing._

_"Why?" Someone came up behind him... Percy? I thought the weirdness had been over! It hadn't bothered me for two months! Why was I having this dream now?_

_"Nico..." Percy put his hand on his shoulder. His green eyes shone in the darkness of New York CIty, while busses and taxis honked and screeched just below them._

_"It's not right, Percy. I watch her live her life, fall in love, and I'm stuck here, only hoping that she'll remember. But everyone knows that that won't happen, because my father made sure of it, Percy. He made sure, that even if he did something to make me happy, he would have to cause me suffering. I would give anything in my life just to have my dad let me be fully happy." Nico's voice cracked, and he tore his gaze away from his friend. Percy dropped his gaze._

_"Nico, I don't know what to say..."_

_"I want to tell her. I really want her to remember, but then the gods would be angry at me. There's nothing left for me to do, Percy. I'm stuck."_

_"Nico, I really want to help you..."_

_"You see the way they lok at eachother!" Nico exclaimed. Percy's eye brows came together, furrowed._

_"Who?"_

_"Drella and Lukas! You would think you'd be able to see it, the way you and Annabeth are together..." Nico said quietly. The two boys stood in silence for a few minutes, watching the bustling city below them._

_"I remember when you two would look at eachother like that," Percy began, staring past the buildings and into the bay. Nico looked up at the older boy. "I wondered how two thirteen year olds could feel so much, when Annabeth and I were already sixteen. I knew you two had something special, Nico. But Fate doesn't seem to be in your favor..."_

_"Obviously," Nico scoffed. _

_"But I think it's better if Drella stay unaware of things..." Nico glared at Percy, before storming back into Caroline's house. You could hear the fron door shut as Nico left the apartment. Percy sighed and shook his head._

_My dream switched and I was asleep. I was curled up on a couch, and I was half asleep. I could tell that Caroline was curled up on the other end, and I heard a door open, as a beam of light hit the opposite wall. I heard voices, and someone whisper, "Shh, the girls are asleep." Someone sat down on the arm of the couch next to me. I knew it was Lukas. He kissed my head three times, and I looked up at him._

_"Go back to sleep, we're just getting in." I nodded and he leaned in and..._

I woke up with a jerk, and found it still night time. I noticed we had all fallen asleep where we had sat for the movie. Which meant... I turned to my left and found Lukas laying on the couch arm next to me, blanket over both of us. I felt weird and strange, and slightly creeped out. I remembered falling asleep on his should around one o'clock in the morning and then... I don't know. I had those really weird dreams. I shook my head, and headed to the kitchen for a glass of water. Then something hit me. Was Nico here? I looked around the living room. As I thought, he was gone. Instead, there was a white note. I set down my glass, and walked over to it, wondering what it was. My name was printed clearly on the top. Opening it, my hands started to shake. Why? I didn't know.

_Drella-_

_Tell Caroline I'm sorry, but I had to leave. See you at this coming semi, I'll be gone for the rest of the week. I have to take a trip to San Fransisco. Hope to see you soon._

_-Nico_

Frowning, I folded the note in my pocket and climbed back onto the couch, half asleep. I drifted off, wondering about Nico and Percy and what they neglectd to tell me...

* * *

Sorry for spelling mistakes, my computers messed up. Please review if you see this!!!1

-Audrey


	13. I love smoothies

A Forgotten Life

When semi formal is coming up, you have tons of homework, and it's the holiday season, it's generally best not to have any relationship drama. Especially any love triangles.

I opened the door to my apartment and sighed in relief as warm air washed over me. Closing the door, I wiggled out of my brown suede boots and flopped on my spinny chair in front of my computer. I stared out the window at the freezing cold snow falling heavily from the sky. It wafted past on a light breeze, as the lights of New York City lit them up. Below my window, I could see all the New Yorkers walking around with shopping bags, and Christmas lights lit up the building. New York was a beautiful place to be for the holidays! I had spent a whole day with a bunch of my friends walking around New York and buying Christmas gifts for our friends, and the whole time it had snowed. Very heavily.

I logged onto my facebook, and sighed again as I scrolled through chat. Only three of my real friends were on. The rest were just people from school I knew, or really old friends from Virginia. Which was kinda funny, because only three out of fifty people were on that were my friends. I laughed to myself for a split second, then realized who was on.

Alice, Caroline, and...Lukas. Recently, as of two weeks ago single, Lukas.

The break-up between them had been rough, and why he broke up with Freya... they had been doing good. He was one of my best guy friends, and when I asked him, he lied to me! Maybe I could get it out of him today, although I had been trying for the passed two weeks. The truth, not what he told me at school before.

Clicking on his name, I grinned.

_9:02pmDrella  
hey wats up_

_9:03pmLukas  
nutin how bout u_

_9:03pmDrella  
nothin_

_2day was fun_

_9:04pmLukas  
who are the top 2 people_

_9:05pmDrella  
top 2 people for what?_

I frowned. What was he talking about? Toop two people for what? Lukas was not making any sense at all. My heart beat faster as his reply came.

_9:05pmLukas  
that ulike like_

I sighed, wanting to tell him, but why should I? It's not like he cared, although I wish he did. I don't know, maybe as my best guy friend he would, and want to tell whichever one of his friend's who it was, but he wouldn't be able to, at lewast not for one of them. I would have guessed tht he would have known by now.

_9:06pmDrella  
uhhhh_

_im not going to tell u_

_9:07pmLukas  
o yes u are or else i will stalk and kill u_

After a long day, I was tired, and at this statement, I literally laughed out loud. GRinning, I answered him.

_9:07pmDrella  
hahaha y do u wanna kno?_

_9:08pmLukas  
idk_

_just tell me_

_9:08pmDrella  
uh.....nnope._

_y should i tell u?_

_9:10pmLukas  
because u dont want wat i said before to happen now do u_

_come on please }:_

_9:16pmDrella  
if u kill me u'll never find out_

_9:16pmLukas  
please_

_9:18pmLukas  
ya but if u die u will never see your family or freinds again_

_and that is worse_

_9:18pmDrella  
yeah that is pretty bad_

_9:19pmLukas  
SO TELL MEE_

_9:19pmDrella  
try and guess first_

I had to think fast. I didn't really want to tell him that I liked him, it would ruin our friendship! Lukas would avoid and ignore me all day... I shuddered and a wave of sadness came over me. That would be horrible. Not just because I liked him as more than a friend, but I loved him as a friend, and if he just started ignoring me...

_9:21pmLukas  
IDK BRIAN_

_9:23pmLukas  
is it brian_

_9:23pmDrella  
jw, but yd u guess brian?_

I grinned. He knew girls too well. Everyone knew who the girls liked, because it was all the same people. Brian, Lukas, Trent, Percy, Nico, one of those, or even all of them! But I wasn't just about to let Lukas catch me like that! I wasn't going to tell him, then fall head over heels!

_9:24pmLukas  
idk_

_9:24pmLukas  
a lot of people like him these days_

_9:25pmDrella_

_how do u know?_

_u can never really know the truth can u?_

_someone might tell u one thing_

_9:25pmLukas  
i have my sources_

_9:25pmDrella  
but u dont know if they're lying_

_then y dont ur "sources" tell u who i like?_

_9:27pmLukas  
i didnt ask them_

I pause for a moment. He didn't ask "them" whoever "them" was. Or "they". Whatever. Did that mean he wanted to ask me personally, or was too scared to ask, or just wanted a conversation? He had never ever asked me this in the whole time we've been friends. Maybe someone put him up to it. I really couldn't think because the only two guys who were single were him...and Brian... maybe there was hope. And maybe there wasn't. But I wasn't just about to give it all up.

_9:29pmLukas  
just tell me who you like and i wont tell any of my frends_

I smiled to myself, having doubting, half liking him even more. He was either being dead serious, or he was lying, but I don't think Lukas would lie to me. He never has.

_9:29pmDrella  
_

_secret for a secret?_

I typed. I wasn't about to go down that quickly. If he was going to know something, then I was going to know something of his.

_9:29pmLukas  
YES!!!!_

_9:29pmAudrey  
u tell me who YOU like_

_9:29pmLukas  
I ASKED FIRST_

_9:30pmDrella  
_

_Then I'll answer first_

_9:30pmLukas  
FINE_

_9:31pmDrella  
YEAH_

_9:31pmLukas  
YUP_

_9:32pmLukas_

_now tell me_

I took a deep breath. I had backed myself up against a corner. At least I would know his top two people that he liked. But things would probably be awkward between us now, now that he knew that I liked him. Why did I start talking to him? Now I had to tell him that I liked him, and I was really not ready for it! I groaned and held my face in my hands. This was not happening.

"Ugh!" I groaned again. The little red one popped up on Lukas's chat box, and I clicked on it, wondeirng why a sense of foreboding wasn't taking ove rme. Normally, when I had to do stuff like this, a wave of terror swept over me. But I was perfectly calm. I took a deep breath, and didn't even look at what he said. I knew what he had said anyway, just telling me to go and tell him, so that we could ruin our friendship and never be able to not be awkward around eachother, and we only had like one and a half years left, and I had been building up this friendship ever since seventh grade. Seventh. Grade.

_9:34pmLukas  
now go_

_9:34pmDrella  
you and brian, but it's cool just being firends with u guys_

_now ur turn_

I held my breath, waiting for disapointment. I knew he probably liked Katherine, or Ruthie, or Freya, the usual people. It was so predictable, and I was hoping he wouldn't even answer me. But of course, the red one popped up on his chat box, and I clicked on it as I flinched. But my mouth dropped open in a silent scream as I read what he had typed.

_9:35pmLukas  
u_

* * *

_I was running through a sunny feild, with yellow wheat or grass. A white, above the knee length dress swirled around my legs softly as I ran. I was wearing my suede brown boots, and my brown hair was tied back into a messy braid down my back. The sun shone brightly, warming my skin as I soaked it up. I was running toward a huge hill in the middle of te field, with a large tree on it. But it wasn't like the tree andhill I seein my regular dreams, this one was a large, thick, old tree, not a pine. It's branches were sturdy and my friends were all standing around it. Well, not all of them, but I could see that there were a lot of people. But the one that really stood out was... Lukas. He leaned against the hood of some old, blue, eighties looking car, and I grinned and ran faster still. I had flowers braided into my hair, and I sort of felt like a hippie. As I grew closer, he smiled and stood up straigh, holding out his arms. He picked me up and swirled me around before drawing me into a kiss..._

I woke up with a start. It was the next day, and I was scared. Lukas and my friendship might be ruined, and it would be my fault. Whyy didn't I just tell him a lie? But he liked me too, which is why he asked. After that, I wrote back, but he didn't respond. Eventually I had to get off and go to bed, I was worrying like crazy. Maybe he didn't even like me. My heart fell, but I still got out of bed.

The scenary rumbeled past me as I sat on the bus next to Katherine, dreading the moment I walked into school. THings would be awkward and strange, and there would be no more good times of us just hanging out like friends all because he had to go and screw it up.

"Drella, are you okay?" Katherine asked, turning to me. We had been silent the whole ride, Katherine applying her lipgloss and messing with her hair, me staring out the window.

"Oh, yeah...yeah I'm fine..." I answered quickly, snapping back from my thinking mode.

"So, didja get asked to the semi yet?" Katherine asked, popping a piece of gum in her mouth. I glanced at the gum packet, then looked back up at her. She sighed and gave a piece to me.

"No, you?" I asked her. She shook her head no and we went back to being silent.

"Hey, sweetie, what's up?" Freya asked, walking next to me on the way to the cafeteria. She was smiling bright and happy, and she seemed a little suspicious, but I decided to ignore it. THings would come out sooner or later, and it besides, ignorance is bliss.

"Just gettin' lunch. How was Dr. Mac?" I asked her. She groaned and rolled her eyes.

Dr. Mac is probably the most hated teachers in our whole school. And I'm not exagerating. He's cruel, unfair, sexist, annoying, and he's the kind of teacher that no one wants to listen to. Ever. And you'd think tech ed/woodshop would be fun and everything, seeing as you get to build stuff and use tools and work with photoshop, but Dr. Mac just makes it sooo unbearable that I swear I just want to scream. But instead I say I want to go to the bathroom and end up walking around school. Not exactly ditching...right?

"Don't even talk to me about him. First day on a new semester and I already want to somehow fire him." THere was a brief pause before Freya turned to me and asked, "Is there anyway we could possibly plant pot on him and have Mrs. Furey find it?" I laughed and we turned the corner into our lunchroom.

Our lunchroom was huge with high ceilings, great lighting, large windows that let the sunlit come in, and relativly good food. But being the spoiled kids that we were, we didn't care and most people just eat out. Freya and I stopped and looked at the small line made of ninth graders grabbing their school food and we turned to eachother.

"Grab a cab?" I suggested.

"Eat out?" Freya replied.

We both turned around and headed out the school doors, unnoticed by the school secretary. Kids left school all the time. About half of them came back.

"Hey, guys, meet us at the smoothie shop on 52nd St., 'kay?" Freya asked speaking into her cellphone as we walked. It wasn't far, plus New York looked pretty good in the snow. That is, of course, until the snow turns to slush. Freya flipped her cellphone down and a taxi went by and two older guys from our school whsitled as they passed us. Freya gave them a sweet smile as they got stopped at the red light and flipped them off. I laughed as they drove away, and we entered the cute smoothie place.

Freya and I took our place in line and Freya studied the menu. I merely stood there, since I already knew what I wanted, and waited for the line to get smaller. After a few moments, Freya turned to me.

"Have you heard from Nico in a while?" she asked suddenly. I was a little taken aback by her question. Most people hadn't talked about Nico at all, not after he randomly left the party. I didn't tell anyone about the note he left me. I was sure they'd ask questions, like 'Why'd he leave a note for you?' and 'Why'd he leave?'. Stupid questions that my messed up brain didn't really feel like answering, especially since I didn't know the answers to those questions.

"Um...no, you?" I answered, shuffling up a few inches. SHe shook her head.

"No. He hasn't been on Facebook in forever either, and he doesn't answer texts." I laughed. We had been friends with him a while now, and I had thought that Freya had known that Nico never uses his phone. Ever. "What?" Freya asked, acting offended.

"Nothing..." I shook my head and laughed again. Freya grinned and at first I thought she was flirting with the college aged guy working behind the counter, but then she faced me and asked,

"So, have you been asked to the dance yet?" I gave her a weird look. Why the hell did everyone care if I got asked to the dance?

"What would you like?" the flippy haired college kid from behind the counter asked.

"Can I have a tripple threat smoothie?" Freya asked.

"And can I get a blueberry, banana, and strawberry one with frozen yogurt?" He smiled at us both.

"Right away."

"No, have you?" I asked her, going back to our conversation before the hottie asked our orders. She nodded. I gave her a surprised smile."By who?"

"Alex." I giggled and the college aged guy from behind the counter looked over and smiled at us both, making Freya and I both blush. He grabbed out smoothies and handed them to us, but of course, right then, all of our friends walked in.

"Hey guys!" Caroline called.

"Smoothies! Yeah!" Charlotte and Paige exclaimed as they ran to get in line. My friends and I are so imature. I admit it.

"Hey, Drella, can I get a little sip of that?" Lukas asked, sauntering up next to me. I laughed and nodded, holding it out to him. Instead, he let me hold it while he sucked it down.

"Hey!" I exclaimed, slapping him playfully on the shoulder. He stopped drinking my smoothie to laugh. I started to sip my smoothie again as I went to go sit down. Lukas followed me.

"You gonna get your own smoothie or what, Lukey?" I asked. He grinned.

"Nah, forgot my money, so I think I'll just share yours," he answered, reaching for my smoothie. I held it away, grinning. "Oh, c'mon, Drella! Please!" Lukas turned his puppy dog eyes to me, and I smiled. No one can resist his puppy dog eyes forever, it's impossible. "Please!" Lukas layed his head on my shoulder, looking up at me and I handed him the smoothie. He smiled and we took turns sipping my drink as we waited for everyone else to get to the table.

"You so owe me another smoothie, smoothie hog," I joked. He laughed and took another sip.

"Agreed. Saturday, after the dance, we can come out here and I'll buy you another smoothie," Lukas said. I paused before I said anything. Me and Lukas were friends and all, and maybe I was reading too much into this, but did he ust ask me out on a date? For the day after the dance?

"Okay," I agreed with him and he smiled.

"It's a date then!" he grinned, taking the smoothie again and I laughed. Yep. He did. "On the subject of dates, do you have one for the dance tomorrow?" I shrugged and shook my head no. But anyone could see it now. It was so clear, the way everyone kept asking me if I had a date yet and the way he invited me to go get a smoothie on Saturday. And the way he was treating me. He didn't act like this with any of his other friends that were girls. "Neither do I. Can I take you as my date?" I smiled, and I could feel myself blushing a little bit.

"Sure, I would like that," I said. He smiled at me and held the smoothie up to me and I took a sip. I grinned at him, but somewhere in the background, in the snowy streets behind Lukas, stood a figure. But I could have reconized him anywhere. Nico DiAngelo was standing across the street, when he was supposed to be in Long Island.

* * *

So longer than most of my chapters but I feel it was a little rambling. Good? Bad? Trying to get teh story back onto more greek god stuff and mysterious things. Hopefully another chapter posted soon!

~AE


	14. Like Robert Pattinson Obsessed?

A Forgotten Life

I stood at my locker, shoving books and papers into it as quickly as I could without messing up something way beyond repair. Over the intercom I could hear the first group of buses being called, and all the kids who had been milling around talking to friends suddenly snapped to attention once it was time to leave. I struggled with my over-sized blue math text book for a while before grabbing it exasperated.

"You know what, screw this..." I muttered, slamming my locker door shut. I could hear the magnets fall onto the mess I had made. A rat's nest consisting of paper, books, wrappers, pencils, pens, useless doodles, and an assortment of things. Jeeze, I really needed to clean my locker. I turned to follow the crowd out to the buses. I sauntered slowly, waiting for one of my friends to pop up and talk. And sure enough...

"Hey, Drella!" But it wasn't the voice I usually heard calling my name after school. I whirled around and stopped in the middle of the river of people, and they just flowed around me. I scanned the hallway and saw Lukas making his way toward me, weaving in and out of people. Ducking and running like some little kid. I smiled and laughed to myself. When he finally caught up, he had this big grin on his face.

"What's up, Lukas? I asked casually, adjusting my bag and running a hand through my hair.

"You owe me a smoothie, Drella," he said, laughing behind his eyes. I smirked.

"Really? Because last time I checked, you owed me a smoothie," I laughed.

"Seems you're right. Let's go grab a smoothie, and then I can pay you back for lunch today." Lukas smiled and laughed his Lukas smile. The one with the puppy dog eyes that no one can resist, and I couldn't help but blush.

"Sure, c'mon," I answered, and we headed out the front door and down the street.

* * *

"You got a date for the dance tomorrow?" Lukas asked me as we headed up to my apartment. He insisted on walking me up, and I knew something was up. Lukas and I were friends, not not the kind of friends that got a snack just the two of us, or spend a whole afternoon alone with. Sure maybe we hung out for an hour or two by ourselves, but then of course everyone would come later. And of course, him walking me up to my apartment... cuz _that's _no unusual.

"Nah, you?" I replied casually as the butterflies in my stomach did loopty loops.

"No, but don't you think it's weird that me and you, both amazing people, don't have dates for the dance tomorrow?" Lukas joked. I laughed.

"I'm sure a lot of girls have asked you Lukas." He stopped climbing the stairs and looked at me, a smile playing on his lips.

"Really? Why would you think that?" I laughed. Lukas could be so arrogant sometimes.

"Cuz...you're like the coolest guy in school and every basically girl is obsessed with you," I teased him. But it was true.

"Wow, Drella, you're hanging out with the coolest guy in school!" Lukas and I laughed and he put his arm around me as we continued walking up to my apartment. After all that time of cursing my apartment (it's at the top of the building), I was now secretly glad it took so long to walk. And that the elevator was broken. "Wait, every girl is obsessed with me? Likei n love with me or hang-up-pictures-in-your-room-stalk-robert-patterson obsessed?" Lukas teased me.

"You are so conceited!" I half exclaimed/half laughed. He pulled me closer.

"No really tell me!" Lukas laughed and I got chills down my back. Stop. It. Drella. Act. Normal.

"The second one, by far," I told him jokingly. Lukas grinned and I blushed again. Why was his smile so hot?

"No but seriously, why would two great people like us not have dates for the dance? I mean honestly. It's tomorrow and we're both dateless!" Lukas pretended to be shameful and hung his head low, shaking it slowly. I giggled. We climbed up the last few set of stairs, and the butterflies increased. If he would ever ask me, he would have to do it now.

"Hey, since we're both single and dateless, how 'bout we go to the dance together?" Lukas asked, making it so obvious that he was trying to make it obvious. I giggled and smiled.

"Sure!"

"Cool, see you tomorrow then, Drella? You goin' to the party at Caroline's after the dance too?" Lukas asked as we reached my apartment door. I smiled. I tried to distract myself after I answered, and I looked down at the door knob so he wouldn't see me blushing. I jiggled the knob a few times before it clicked, and the door swung wide open. I stepped inside and turned back around.

"It's not like I'm going anywhere!" I giggled. "'Bye Lukas!" I said, hoping he would leave before I started hyperventilating and jumping up and down. Thankfully, he started down the stairs and I closed my apartment door and sighed.

* * *

Okay kind of a stupid chapter, (and it was really short in my opinion) but I had to write it to lead it up to the next one. Review please!!!


	15. There is something really wrong with me

Forgotten Life

I stepped onto the gym floor, lights swirling and music blaring in my ears. I could feel the base vibrating from the ground and into my feet. Of course, Lukas and I hadn't _gone_ together so to say. In New York, you can't really _go _anywhere unless you wanna walk or rent a fancy car. No one wants to walk for a dance, and no one wants to take a taxi. So here I was, looking through the throng of people, trying to find my friends at the winter formal dance. I took a light step further into the gym before I spotted Caroline and Freya talking by the punch bowl. I hurried over, grinning as I went. My dress wasn't too fancy, it was just a semi formal after all. Freya squealed when she saw me.

"Oh my god, Drella, you look gorgeous!" Freya exclaimed.

"Wow, that-that's just the definition of gorgeousness! I-I can't look at you you're too damn hot!" Caroline yelled. I laughed.

"You guys look great!" I complimented them. Freya adn Caroline gave a little twirl and I laughed.

"Punch?" Caroline offered. I nodded and she handed me a cup.

"So, where's Lukey?" Freya asked, poking me and giving me a sly look. I laughed again and took a sip from my drink so I wouldn't have to answer her question. If I thought about it all too much, I would get nervous, and right now, I was in a perfect serenity mode. I was strangely calm, but all of that would probably fall apart the moment I saw him. I was such a sucker.

"Speaking of which..." Caroline said, looking past me over my shoulder. I turned around and saw Lukas, Brian, Alex, and walk through the door.

"And the party don't start 'til I walk in!" they all shouted and we burst into giggles. Our guy friends could be _so_ weird sometimes. Or maybe all the time...

"I love our friends so much!" Caroline exclaimed. A phrase commonly yelled whenever by any of my friends. Well, it was true!

"This is the way I live!" Freya and I yelled at the same time. We turned to stare at each other and burst out laughing. I felt someone tap my shoulder. I whirled around to see Lukas (flanked by Brian, and Alex) standing there. He looked amazing with his black cords from the Garden and a plaid. Which was formal for the guys here...kinda...okay not really. But it worked out. And his brown hair was flipped perfectly to the side, and he had this quirky/hot smile on his face that made any girl melt. Which I, as one of his better girl friends, have learned to try to resist. Which didn't always work out...

"Oh, hey!" I exclaimed.

"Hey, Drella. You look really pretty tonight!" Lukas said sweetly, and I smiled... and hoped the darkness would hide me blushing.

"Thanks," I replied. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Alex talking to Freya and Brian talking to Caroline. There was an awkward silence between Lukas and me. We had always just been friends and now going to a dance together.. I mentally shook my head. Nope. I couldn't over think it or else I would get nervous and then that would ruin my night. I just had to keep calm... Of course, I was saved by the entrance of another one of my friends...and his out of town date.

"Hey, Percy, wassup?" Lukas and Percy fist bumped, and the blond haired girl just grinned. But a feeling a dread came over me. The blond haired girl was from my visions...Annabeth. The one Percy showed me a picture of that one time when we went to Diamond's party (EW DIAMOND!). That was when I had had the vision that I died. Another wave a dread crashed over me and I pleaded silently, "Please, please don't let me have a vision right now whatever you do don't let me have a vision!" I closed my eyes for a moment and steadied myself, and tried to focus on staying intact with this world. Fortunately, the odds seemed to be in my favor, and I stayed at the dance instead of whirling off into some dream-like vision. When I opened my eyes again, I could see Annabeth staring.

"Hi, Annabeth, I'm Drella," I greeted her, then mentally slapped myself. You've never met her! Shut up! You don't know her name!

"Hey, nice to meet you!" she replied happily, but I could see sadness in her gray eyes.

"Hey, isn't Nico supposed to be here?" Percy asked, looking around. "He said he'd be back at the dance..." Percy craned his head, looking around.

"Hey, I think I see him..." Lukas said. "Over there by the door!" All at the same time, we rushed over to Nico, laughing and weaving and going under people like little immature freaks, but hey. They were my friends. I got up once we got to Nico and I tripped slightly, and fell into Lukas's shoulders, laughing. He laughed with me, and so did everyone else. We were so weird.

"Nico, where have you been?" Lukas asked, fist bumping him. Nico smiled, but it faltered when he saw me and Lukas standing next to each other.

"You guys go to the dance together?" he asked. I nodded, still trying not to laugh.

"Yeah." Nico nodded, as if he were thinking, but he turned to Percy, smile bright and happy again.

"Hey, percy. Is this your date?" Nico asked, and Annabeth smiled.

"Yeah, I'm Annabeth," she introduced herself. Nico smiled at her.

"Nice to meet you."

They didn't think I would notice. But I did. I don't know if Lukas caught it, or if Percy was in on it too, but I saw it just the same. The secret glance between Annabeth and Nico. A mixture of sadness, happiness, surprise, and pity. And of course, curiosity took over me again. And I really wish it hadn't.

* * *

_I remember what you wore on the first day, You came into my life and I thought hey, You know this could be something..._

I stood aimlessly on the dance floor as the music started to play before I realized it was a slow song. "Shit..." I thought to myself. Not now! It had only been fifteen minutes into the dance! I didn't want to slow dance with Lukas, I mean I liked him and everything but I didn't want to screw it up and get nervous or step on his feet or put my arms in an awkward position or get too close or or or-

I mentally shook my head and tire to keep calm and not think about it. If I thought about it, I'd get all worked up...like I had before. I looked around, and saw Lukas making his way through the crowd. I closed my eyes momentarily before setting down my drink.

"Hey, Drella, do you wanna dance?" Lukas asked sweetly. His brown hair was flipped to one side, his puppy dog eyes begging me. Although they ddidn't have to beg. Of course i would dance with him 1) I was his date and 2) I liked him! What kind of question is that anyway? What, did he expect me to say no? But instead, I smiled sweetly.

"Sure," I said as he reached out to put his around me. Instinctively, I put my arms around his neck. Lukas pulled me closer, and we swayed back and forth on the dance floor. Above us the lights twinkled happily, matching my mood. Lukas smelled good...I don't know how to describe it. Like summertime, or Virginia Beach I don't know. I know that's a weird thing to say, but it soothed me. As Lukas pulled me closer, he held his hands in the small of my back, and I could feel myself blushing. Thank goodness the lighting was low.

I looked around the gym, spotting a few of my friends dancing with their dates. There was Freya, laughing silently with Caroline behind Alex's back. Alex liked her, but she didn't like him like that. I didn't know what they were laughing about until I saw Alex's hands near Freya's butt and I stiffled a giggle. Which didn't really work. Lukas pulled back to look at me.

"What?" he asked, a smile pulling at the sides of his mouth.

"Alex and Freya," I giggled. Lukas turned to look at them, and he laughed too.

"Alex is such a pervert..." Lukas joked, and I laughed before we settled back into our recent position. Except that when Lukas pulled me closer again, I lied my head on his shoulder and looked sideways and sighed. He was just the perfect height for me.

I gazed off absentmindedly around. Caroline was dancing with Cooper, Paige was with Trent. I could see Percy and Annabeth happily dancing not too far off. Percy had this stupid grin on his face, and I grinned. But then I saw Nico standing over by the punch like a moody loner. He was leaning against the wall, drink in hand, staring around the dance floor. His eyes met mine, and it took me a moment to realize that we were staring at each other. Nico looked at me, with no emotion and mouthed one word:

"Remember." I don't know what he was talking about, or why he would say something like that, but something inside of me clicked, and I felt my stomach drop. Out here in reality, I was flying high on cloud nine, dancing with my crush. But something didn't seem right. They way Nico looked, or all the suspicious whisperings and last year with Percy talking to Mrs. Keegan, and Nico and Percy talking in privet, and all the visions. And I realized nothing was normal in my life. Ever since that one day when I woke up, and nothing's ever been quite right. Sure I still went to parties and dances and hung out in New York City with my friends, but there was always that little something in the back of my head. And all I wanted to do was run away. Which is what I, unfortunately, did.

* * *

"Drella! Drella! Wait!" I heard voices calling my name behind me. And it wasn't just Lukas's. I could hear Percy and Nico and Annabeth and a few other people calling after me, but I didn't care. I just kept running. I hurried into the elevator at my school and hurriedly pushed the third floor button. I pushed it a million times as tears slid down my face. I could see them running after me, and all I wanted was for the doors to close and for me to be alone. What the hell was wrong with me? What did Nico have to do with anything? Why did I run away from my slow dance with Lukas?

The doors started to slide shut, but not before Lukas squeezed in. The doors shut and with a stomach clenching start, the elevator moved upwards. I leaned against the wall and sank down. Thank goodness for water proof mascara.

"Drella? Drella, are you okay?" Lukas asked soothingly, bending down next to me. I didn't answer. I just kept crying. God, what the hell was wrong with me?! All I felt was sadness and coldness. And I didn't know why.

"Drella, please, tell me what's wrong!" Lukas pleaded with me. I looked up and wiped my tears away. Again, thank goodness for water proof mascara.

"I don't know, I don't know..." I muttered. "I'm being stupid, really, I am..." Lukas smiled at me and curled a piece of hair behind my ear. That only made me feel worse. I sobbed harder, and he sat down next to me while the ridiculously slow elevator rose higher and higher. Leaning against his shoulder, I cried. Lukas put his arm around me, and I felt slightly warmer, but not by much. When I ran out of tears, I looked up to gaze around the elevator. There were no more tears to cry now, and now my heart just hurt. The shiny, metallic walls surrounding me and Lukas showed me a distorted, fuzzy reflection of us, and I smiled slightly. And then I noticed the buttons. It didn't make sense. We were on the fifth floor, adn we were heading toward the sixth floor, the very top floor of the school where the seniors were. I turned questioningly to Lukas.

"Did you push the sixth floor?" I asked. My voice sounded hollow and it echoed in a weird way in the elevator. Lukas shook his head.

"I only just ran in here. Are you okay?" I ignored the last part. I stood up, confused. The school wasn't that old that the elevator was messing up. And if no one touched the button, then what could it be? I only hit the third floor...

The button on the wall turned bright and the doors slid open. How I wish I hadn't been curious...

* * *

**Well I hope that was a good chapter. More stuff to come, almost on the second part of the book! Review if you read this thanks!**

**~Audrey**


	16. Curiosity almost kills the cat

Forgotten Life

The doors opened with a metallic hiss, and the perky "Ding!"ing noise seemed almost sinister as I stared out into the hallway with horror.

Standing in front of me were four horses. But they weren't anything like normal horses. They were twice the size, their heads almost touching the ceiling. They looked as if their skin was rotting right off of them, and they had an odd skeletal look about them. They smelled of blood and festering flesh. Their teeth were deadly and curved over their dead looking lips, blood and saliva dripping off of their teeth and creating pools of it on the floor. One mare was as dark as ebony, another transparent and shiny like a diamond. The third was a red-chestnut color, and the last was almost funnily blond. I would have laughed if it weren't for the deadly teeth and rotting look about them. Oh, and the blood thirsty look in their eyes.

I was paralyzed in fear. The four horses seemed to study us forever, imagining our gory deaths. Or maybe they were making a plan. Either way, I could hear my heartbeat reverberate in my ears, and I was almost certain these deadly looking horses could hear it too.

The elevator doors opened fully, and the horses snorted, eyes narrowing and muscles tensing.

"Run!" Lukas shouted as the blond one began to charge down the hallway. From this view, the fact of it being blond wasn't too funny anymore.

Instinctively, Lukas and I ran...out of the elevator. Why we didn't just go back down, I didn't know. Lukas pulled me into a nearby classroom, and we scrambled under a large, wooden teacher desk. We could hear the monstrous horse's footsteps echo like thunder against the linoleum tiles. The footsteps slowed to a deathly stop, and I could hear a faint "ding!". I slowed my breathing as another horse began to move toward our end of the hallway. Normally I'd make some crude joke about Lukas and me being alone in a classroom under a desk together, but now didn't seem like the best time.

We could hear the classroom door open, and Lukas clasped his hand over my mouth just as I was about to scream in terror. We sat there under the desk, frozen in fear as we listened to the horse snort and make odd shrieking noises. We could hear it coming closer, and we held our breath in anticipation. I clenched my fists harder, and I could feel my nails digging into my skin. With an unearthly shriek, the desk was thrown off, uncovering us. The diamond-looking one reared on its hind legs, messing up the ceiling. Bits of foam, plaster, and plastic showered Lukas and me and he grabbed my wrist and pulled me out of the way as the horse came back down forcefully.

Ducking back into the hallway, we were greeted by the other two horses. Where Blondie had gone, I had no idea. Lukas and I booked it across the hall as the mares lunged at us. The teeth of the red one caught my leg while I was running, creating a gash from the back of my knee to my ankle. Blood trickled out, and at the sight, the mares seemed to grow more savage, more beastly. The second we got into the room, two horses soared over our heads, demolishing the ceiling and the door frame. When they landed, cracks formed in the ground and they destroyed a display case or too. Old Native American tools spilled out onto the floor. Mrs. Lucy was not going to be happy about her classroom being destroyed. Sparkles and Blackie snorted fiercely and closed in. Behind us was the red mare. We were trapped. It would have been only a matter of time before they pounced (Imagine that! A horse pouncing!) and Lukas and I would be ripped to shreds. Forget dating, I'd be lucky if we even lived through this.

I took a hesitant step back, my wrist still held by Lukas. I stepped on something, which I quickly got off of and looked down. As quick as lightening, Lukas scooped up whatever it was. Fortunately, in all that Native American display junk, there was an actual weapon. A bow and arrow.

Lukas aimed it at the two in front of us, and I glanced at the red on in the back. They all seemed slightly more cautious now that we had a weapon, but they didn't seem too concerned with it.

"Lukas..." I said warningly. He switched back and forth between the two in front of us, keeping the arrow pointed at them. The bow string was stretched taut and ready. I wasn't sure if Lukas had ever taken archery before, but our lives were depending on him with this bow and arrow.

Just as he was about to let an arrow fly at one of the mares, another arrow was shot, striking Sparkles right between the eyes. The horse disintegrated into a pile of yellow dust.

Lukas and I whirled around to see Annabeth and Juri standing in the doorway. Juri had his bow still out, a look of defiance on his face. Annabeth had a bronze looking sword drawn mercilessly, and she still looked deadly despite the fact that she was in a formal dress. The red horse was nowhere to be found. But neither was a pile of gold dust.

I turned back to the black mare. Her glowing red eyes glared at us, narrowing. She reared back, brandishing her plate sized hooves, and neighed and a stream of green flames shot out of it's mouth. We all ducked as debris from the ruined ceiling rained down on us. The flames were hot, deadly, and moving toward us quicker than normal fire would. It wasn't the warm-lets-make-s'mores-and-sing kind of fire. I raised my hand to shield myself from a falling piece of wood, and the flames seemed to change course, heading right for the black mare. It shrieked and neighed, as if calling out. When nothing answered, I saw fear enter her eyes. The flames moved mercilessly towards her, licking at her mane and tail and hooves until she was ablaze with the green fire. I turned away as the horse began to burn right in front of us, engulfed in the fire. She stomped and whinnied, but nothing could stop the deadly green fire. She was burning alive. Soon the air was filled with the smell of flames, smoke, blood, and burned rotting flesh.

Annabeth, Juri, and Lukas began to cough as the smoke entered their lungs. I must have been coughing too, but everything was so disorienting and confusing that I must have not noticed if I was coughing or not. It was still smoky, but the flames seemed to have died out once they had consumed the black, man eating horse. A pile of gold dust stood where the black mare had once been. We hurried out of the classroom and closed the door so as not to clog the hallway with smoke. Surprisingly, the fire alarms didn't go off.

Lukas pulled me back against the wall as the red-chestnut horse flew past us. The wind off of the racing horse blew my hair into further disarray. At the end of the hallway, also brandishing swords were Percy, Nico, and Brian. They looked brave and fearless, like they could take on this flesh eating horse barreling down at them.

As the horse reached them, Percy threw his sword at the horse's neck, Nico threw his sword at the horse's chest, and Brian's sword reached the red horse's neck. They lunged out of the way as the horse rammed into the wall behind them. I would think it would have gone through the wall, but it was half dust when impact came. I breathed a sigh of relied and leaned against Lukas in exhaustion, putting my arms around his neck. We sank to the floor. My whole body was tense and covered in cuts and bruises, and now I was traumatized.

"Thank goodness that's over…" Percy said, sword magically back in his hand. He, Annabeth, Nico, and Brian all sheathed their blades.

There was a moment of silence before we realized something. At the end of the hall, the elevator was moving up. Third floor, fourth floor, fifth floor, sixth floor… The doors slid open with that sinister happy sound. I was torn between laughing and screaming. Stuffed in the elevator was Blondie. A cramped, uncomfortable, angry, deadly, man eating mare. Annabeth, Nico, Percy, and Brian all went for their blades again, and Juri had his bow poised and ready to shoot. Lukas and I stood up, me still gripping his arm.

The world seemed to slow down and became clearer as the mare charged, blood and flesh flying off her body, fire burning in her glowing red eyes. Thunderous footsteps and rotting flesh.

As it grew closer to us, I saw Lukas and I both instinctively raise our hands, as if to stop it. Then all at once, in slow motion, four swords, three arrows, and two fireballs hit the blond horse. The mare disintegrated into dust on the spot, leaving the three arrows and four swords lying on top. Everyone turned to look at Lukas and me. There was silence.

"What the hell is going on here?!" I screamed, looking at everyone and detaching myself from Lukas's arm. My eyes flickered to each person, my voice rising hysteria. "I was just almost killed by four huge, man eating horses and you guys have weapons and fighting abilities, and a fireball just flew out of my hand! I demand to know what's going on!" Nico merely stayed silent, staring at Lukas and me, then ran towards a wall. He disappeared right before he hit. "What the f-?!"

"Drella, listen to me. I'll explain everything..." Percy said soothingly, cutting me off.

"And Juri and Brian! Why didn't I see that you were in on this!" Brian and Juri looked at the ground, not saying anything. "You were such good friends with Percy, Nico, Alex-and you!" I rounded on Lukas in my crazy state. "You were in on this too, weren't you?! You were one of my best friends! I trusted you! And you knew, didn't you?!"

"Drella, I swear, I don't know what's going on either-" Lukas started.

"Drella, really, let me get you someplace where I can explain everything," Percy said. He took a step forward.

"What, so all of you can laugh at my stupidity?! I'm not stupid! I admit, I saw whisperings and secret conversations and the meeting with Mrs. Keegan last year, Percy! Was she in on this too? Does everyone in the whole freaking school know about this kind of shit besides me?!" I yelled at all of them.

"No, I promise you. We had people stationed- you know what, please, just let me get you someplace else to explain this," Percy insisted, a pleading, desperate look in his eye. Behind him, I watched tears stream down Annabeth's face as she watched me.

"How can I trust you!? How can I trust any of you?!" I screamed.

"Please, Drella. Listen to me," Percy said. I was about to snap back, some witty remark, but a wave of exhaustion came over me. I sighed, closing my eyes momentarily and steadying myself on Lukas's shoulder.

"Okay, okay..." I agreed, feeling almost numb. I leaned on Percy as he walked me toward the stairs.

"Is she gonna be okay? Drella! Drella!" Lukas called after me, but Juri and Brian held him back. He tried to push them out of the way, but Annabeth hurried over and the three of them tried to talk to Lukas. I gave him a tired smile over my shoulder. Then the big door closed and Percy and I walked down the stairs.

* * *

I stared out into the last rays of sunlight, fading from the vast sky. The golden-orange light shone from behind the New York City skyline, bathing my city in a yellow glow. It glistened off the skyscrapers and reflected off the tops fo the taxis. The wind blew up here. Still cold, but unimportant. Here at the top of the world was where I could find some sort of peace, always. Here on top of the Empire State Building.

"I'm ready to listen now," I said quietly, letting the wind tug at my hair. I was a mess. My dress was ripped, my wavy hair tangled and knotted, and I was covered in cuts and bruises. But not burns. There weren't any burns.

But Percy didn't say anything. He simply took out a white envelope from his jacket pocket. He handed the envelope to me, but I could see a small, rectangular piece of paper in his hand. I didn't call him out on it, and took the envelope. I emptied the envelope of it's contents, and to my surprise, found the pictures I had found in my basement. The ones in the very same envelope all those months ago, when Percy was still the new kid. I flipped through them, examining each one closely. I looked about thirteen or fourteen, happy, almost care free. But if you looked at my eyes, or anyone else's eyes in these pictures, you could see the cloud of worry in our eyes. There were a lot of me, Annabeth, Percy, Nico, Juri, and Brian, and a few other people I didn't recognize. There was one of two twins kissing me on the cheek. I was laughing in the picture, and Nico was watching us disapprovingly. I smiled to myself, seeing how much fun I was having. But two things troubled me; the ages of the people in these photos, and the hurt in my heart. It had come back, and my heart, like the rest of my body, ached. None of this made any sense. Everyone looked about the same age as they did now, maybe a year or two younger, but still relatively the same. But me. I looked about thirteen or fourteen. It didn't make any sense. How could I have been so young when everyone else looked about a year younger than now?

"How does this explain anything?" I asked Percy. Percy handed me the last piece of paper. It was small, long, and rectangular. It was four photos taken at a photo booth. They were pictures of Nico and me. The first one was of Nico with his arm around me as I curled into him. The second was of us grinning at each other. The third was us laughing. And the last one was of him kissing me. Another wave of sadness rolled over me, almost making it unbearable. But the absence of any recollection of this, or any explanation of how this happened, made it all worse. I turned it over, and scribbled in black ink were the words:

_To Drella_

_You're the best girlfriend anyone could ever have. Love you, Nico_

Then that wave hit me again, with such a force that I couldn't comprehend. My heart hurt, like someone had broken it in two. I felt like I couldn't breathe. Visions and scenes flashed across my mind, too fast to make out or see correctly. My last sight was the sunset on the New York skyline before it all went black...

* * *

**TADA!!! Hope it was a good chapter! This is the last chapter of the first part of the book, so there's still more to come!!! PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Was it too much? Too obvious? Can anyone guess what happened? (I bet you can't but if you can, wow, you're a smarty) Free muffin to anyone who can tell me what happened! Might be a little longer until I upload another chapter. I have to get it just right, and I'm debating whether or not I should edit and revise the first part of this book. Should I? I don't know. Okay, ending author's note. ~Audrey**


	17. PART TWO RememberenceI'm no demigod

**Forgotten Life**

**Now for part two! What is Percy gonna explain (i know, she's a demigod blah blah blah stereotypical) but not quite the same story as everyone elses! (at least I think) The mystery of what Nico keeps trying to tell her is finally revealed, and a bunch of other secrets too!**

**Disclaimer:I don't own PJO at all. Just putting that in there for part two.**

**Part Two: Rememberence**

_All around me was darkness, utter darkness. I could hear light footsteps, and breathing, but it wasn't my breathing. I didn't utter a single noise. My chest didn't rise and fall with my breathing, my heart didn't beat, and I didn't talk. All I could feel was coldness, and although there was some hope, the sadness and darkness ate away at me. It felt like I had been swallowed in darkness forever, to always wallow in sadness and despair, never to see the light of the sun again, or touch the skin of my loved ones. I was utterly gone. Except for this new hope, that lay hidden where my heart would be if I were something. A light at the end of the darkness grew larger and brighter, until it filled my whole world, casting out the dark. Warmth came back to my body, life had a meaning, I could breathe, I could feel my heart beat again. The world was filled with life and happiness again, and I had one person to thank for that... My dream swirled and I was sitting in my art teacher's room with Lukas. The whole school was empty, and it was just us two. Lukas sat down in the big swirly chair, and I sat down on his lap, my arms around his neck._

_"We're all alone..." he said quietly, a sly smirk on his face. I grinned back and we both leaned in... My dream swirled and it was filled with flashes of images and visions I didn't recognize or remember. They were all going too quickly to fully see or comprehend. Nothing made sense, everything was confusing. I felt like I had totally forgotten something, but I couldn't remember what it was. It irritated, and I could feel myself getting restless. What was it? I had to figure it out? And just like the light in my first dream, it appeared in the distance, seeming to get closer and closer. It was so close, I felt like I could reach out to it with my mind. Only a little bit farther..._

I jerked awake. My eyes snapped open. In my mind, a slew of swear words too drastically to say outloud ran across my mind. I was so close to remembering! What had it been? It was going to bug me forever! I felt like it was something important... filled with happiness, sadness, a cold, dark feeling... I mentally shook my head. It was useless. I'd never be able to remember!

I began to study my surroundings. I was laying on a comfortable bed with all white sheets, a white, feathery pillow, in a white room. The walls were covered in in intricate, ornate carvings. The light came from the base of the wall, inside the floor. This place was pretty nice, but I was alone in a foreign place, so despite how nice a place was, I needed to get out. Or get some answers. I tried to push myself up, the the black spots got so dizzying that I had to lay back down again. And stare at the ceiling. I'm not exactly sure how long I was lying there, but after what seemed like forever, I heard the door open. I moved my eyes, as not to stress my body again and almost pass back out. What had even happened? The last thing I remember was Percy and I on top of the Empire State Building...with the pictures... The shock crashed back over me like a tidal wave. Thankfully, I didn't pass out again. If I did, what state would I be in? I was already unable to sit up, shaky, and extremely weak.

"Drella?" Percy's voice asked. I grunted in response. He smiled faintly, and pulled a chair up to my bed side table. He sat there, silent for a little while, before asking me, "So, is there anything you want to ask me?" I shook carefully shook my head no. Percy sighed, and leaned back in his chair. "Guess I'll go first." He took a deep breath before starting, as if it were complicated. Just tell me where I was, what happened, how my friends are, how the pictures were like that, and what were those demon horse things. That's all I want to know.

"Drella, I'm sure you know the Greek gods, right?" Percy started. I nodded faintly. "Okay, well, they're still alive today, and they follow Western Civilization. So naturally, they're in America." I nodded again. I wasn't really fully understanding what he was saying, being as I was highly confused, groggy, and that there were other things on my mind. I didn't need to listen to some little fairy tale story right now. "And, their children with mortals, half-bloods or demigods, they're real too. And you, like me, Annabeth, Brian, Nico, and Lukas, are one too." At this, I rolled my eyes over and gave Percy the, "Whoa, you really are crazy. Do the nice men in white suits know about you?" look. I was too shaky to actually make a comment on his unstable mind, so the look had to do for now.

"I'm the son of Poseidon, Annabeth and Brian are the kids of Athena, and Nico's the son of Hades..." Percy continued slowly, as if letting it sink in. I had already dismissed him as crazy, or a dream the moment he said that we were demi whatsits. I waited patiently for my dream to change and be more confusing than ever. I also noticed he conveniently left out Lukas.

"And me?" I managed to croak out. Those two little words took a lot of energy from my body.

"I'm getting to that. Now, when you were eleven, and I was fourteen, you came to this camp. You met Nico, and you two hit it off. Eventually, you became friends with me, Annabeth, Juri, Grover, Brian, and a few other people you may still know, or may not know. In a year, you and Nico were dating. Then the Second War came, and that changed everything for everyone..." Percy's expression darkened, and for a moment, I thought that bright light was in reach again, but like lightening, it was gone again, replaced by the ever present darkness. "I was destined to die, kids at Camp Half-Blood were being thrown into fights all the time, people headed over to the dark side, and in the midst of the battle in New York, you..." Percy's voice trailed off. The more he told this crazy story, the more I wanted to get up and strangle crazy dream Percy. Why couldn't I be switched to any other dream right now? Honestly? But the more I wanted to strangle him, the stronger I got. Percy stared in alarm at me.

"You're eyes are a browny red again..." he muttered. I dismissed his rediculous comment.

"What the hell happened to me?" I demanded, finding my voice. Maybe if I played along, maybe my dream would change and I would wake up in my own bed, and find out it had all been a dream, the dance, the horses, the pictures, all of it had just been a dream.

"Drella, you were brutally stabbed by another demigod. A demigod who had spied for the other team, and had a grudge against Nico. It was too late to save you, and Nico didn't even get to say goodbye to you. He learned about your death too late. All during through the war, we fought his hardest, and he avenged your death, but that wasn't enough for him. So, a day after the war ended, Nico went to his father, the God of the Dead, and pleaded to take you back..." Percy recited his craziness as if he weren't able to stop. Like if he stopped, the pain would make him never be able to tell this story again, and I would be stuck in darkness again.

"His father's wife, Persephone, persuaded him, and Nico planned to take you back up to the living world. But Hades warned him that things may not be the same. No one had ever taken someone back from the dead. The only person who had ever tried was Orpheus, and at the last minute, Orpheus failed. Nico was placed under the same conditions as Orpheus, but unlike Orpheus, he succeeded." The more Percy talked, the more I was beginning to believe him. Not that I believed him, just the story sort of made sense, in a mythical way. It was a great tale, worthy of old Greeek legends, I thought. The sort of tragic love story that ended well.

"But like Hades had said, things weren't the same. You had been in the Underworld too long. You had no memory of the past three years. One year of memory erased for each day you had spent down there. Drella, you also aged three years, also for each of the days you had been down there."

Although I knew this story was absolutely fake, a small tear trickled out of my eye, creating a path from the corner of my eye, down my cheek, and onto the feathery pillow. Pecy studied the tear, and I could see in his own green eyes that he was keeping back tears as well. The thought made me feel even worse, but I held back the rest. Crying over some stupid story to entertain me, was not worth it. It was probably a joke, trying to see if I was gullible enough to believe it. Something to occupy my friends in this weirdo hospital that I was staying in.

Then a thought struck me. The white sheets, the white walls, everything white, Percy being crazy, me thinking I'm going crazy... what if this was an asylum? I had to get out of here! I was NOT going to stay in a crazy house the rest of my life! I could live like a normal person! Really! I tried to prop myself up, but my results were the same. I felt nauseous, and I lied back down.

"So the gods had to figure out what to do. They couldn't just let you wander around camp, being attacked. They couldn't let you live out in the mortal world, for the same sort of reasons; for being safe. So they decided for you to live with your immortal parent, and to be watched over by a few demigods in your regular life just as a precaution. But the problem was, no one knew your immortal parent." I nodded, starting to feel a bit numb. My head was buzzing, and my ears were ringing. The light seemed to be right in front of me. I would be able to remember what I couldn't, and it would stop bothering me. But Percy's stupid story was distracting me from grasping it!

"Your mother finally came forth. The problem was, that she was supposed to be sworn to maidenhood, which proved a problem in the gods eyes. But they had to let it go, since she had to watch over you. And you went back to New York and lived with your mother, and lived your life. The demigods would switch out every once in a while, and some of your old friends and I volunteered..." Percy trailed off again. The room was eerily silent. Thank goodness Percy had shut up, I was trying so hard to remember. I finally looked over at him.

"Then who's my mom?" I obviously knew who my mother was. She was Theressa Jones. She's my mom. I live with her in our apartment in New York City. She works as a sales lady in the Empire State Building. I obviously know who my mother is.

"Hestis, goddess of fire, home, hearth, and food," Percy replied. I nodded, as if that meant something.

"Well, that's good to know! Now if I don't clean my room, I know that my mom can just burn me to bits!" I said sarcastically. "Now let me switch to another dream." Percy laughed.

"You think this is a dream? Drella, this is real life!"

"Uh huh, and I'm a goddess," I said sarcastically.

"Half actually....but anyway, you have to believe me! That's your past!" Percy exclaimed. I laughed skeptically.

"Okay, I'm getting out of this asylum!" I told him, swinging myself out of bed before the spots could take over. I stumbled clumsily to the door, desperate to get out of this mental hospital. By now, I was almost completely blind, and my head was banging so hard. The world tilted and spun, but I kept stumbling around, holding onto the wall to keep from falling. But it was no use. I collapsed hard, banging my head against the wall, succeeding in knocking myself out again. The world turned black, and I wished so hard for another dream, anything than this crazy house.

_I swung at my attacker, and he jumped back, brandishing his sword menacingly. It made me sad to see a demigod on the bad side, but the gods had to win this war. There was no way we were letting the Titans win. I parried his attack perfectly, and disengaged and feinted, before swing under and catching him in the leg. Instead of cutting him, I tripped him onto his back. He cursed silently, anger flashing in his eyes. He swung at me wildly with his sword, glinting in the sunlight. I jumped back, and stabbed him in his shoulder. He shouted in pain before returning his gaze to me. I stabbed his other shoulder, not too deep. Fighting wasn't really my forte, but if I had to, I still could. I wasn't completely useless. As he struggled with his wounds, I twirled my finger in a circle, a a ring of green, crackling flames surrounded him. They didn't burn towards him, but it kept him out of the war, and injured anyone who tried to stop it. He glared at me as I walked away, surrounded by fighting._

_My dream went fuzzy, and everything was disorienting. Things were slow and fast at the same time, the sound fading and growing louder at the same time. I could make out a figure, swords clashing, fire burning, yelling, screaming. Warm liquid. Them everything became clear again. Pain shot through my body like a wild fire, sending my brain reeling. My hand was on my chest. Warm liquid covered my hand, and I removed my hand from my chest to see what it was. But I already knew. I knew even before the pain. My hand was covered in blood. It glinted in the fire nearby, and I felt sick. Seeing that much of your own blood does something to you. It makes you weaker, even weaker than just your wound would make you. I collapsed back as spots swam before my eyes. The figure grinned from above me. She was a girl, maybe a year older than me. Hatred burned in her brown eyes, and her sword had my blood on it._

_"Drella, Drella, Drella..." she said slowly, wiping off my blood. "Looks like I finally beat you, isn't that something?" I glared back at her as best I could. A pool of blood was trickling off my armor and onto the ground, creating a pool from where I sat. Then the girl shook back her dark blond hair and thrust her sword towards me. I closed my eyes as her sword struck right above my heart. I winced slightly in pain, but didn't make a sound. I reopened my eyes, gasping for breath. It came out rugged and raspy. I knew there wasn't any hope for me unless a god or an Apollo kid found me, but the gods were fighting Typhon and all the Apollo kids were up high, shooting arrows._

_The girl smiled menacingly at me. I spat at her feet. A mixture of saliva and blood. I didn't have enough strenghth to summon any fire. This was the end._

_"You took the wrong side, Drella. The Titans will win, and the gods will go down. You should've known." She made a tsking noise, and I still glared. But my life was fading fast. The pool of my blood was huge, joining the rest of the blood on the field. She twirled her sword and left, shooting me one last glance. I waved sarcastically, knowing it may be the last thing I'd do. Then suddenly, an arrow shot down, striking the girl in the back. I turned my eyes as far to the side as I could to see who shot the arrow, but they were too far behind me. A blond, curly haired girl with gray eyes raced through the crowd of fighting monsters and demigods._

_"Drella, Drella, oh my gods..." she breathed. She dropped to her knees and I leaned against her, taking slow, shallow breaths. She hugged me, and pain wracked through my body. I didn't have the heart to tell her it hurt...or the strength. I could feel her tears, or maybe they were mine. Annabeth stroked my hair as I put my head in her lap. "Oh my gods, what is Nico going to say... gods, no, Drella..." My vision was fading fast, and I smiled sadly at the thought of Nico. I would never see him again, or any of my friends. Not even my dad, who I hadn't seen for two years now, with camp and everything. Not my mom, not my family, not any of my mortal friends either. This was the end. I never thought it'd be this early. I thought I'd live a pretty long life, somehow survive through this war with the gods winning and life pretty much going back to normal. But no. By now I was barely conscious, lost in my own thoughts that slowly swirled. The sound seemed to be fading away, growing farther and farther away until it was silence and coldness. And then suddenly, like a feather blown away by a strong wind, I was gone._

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**Hope you liked it! Review please! IDK was it too Mary Sue-ish? I tired to make it fit together...~Audrey**


	18. The Swell Season

**Forgotten Life**

**Disclaimer:I don't own PJO or the Swell Season**

My eyes opened slowly. I was in a white room and I instantly remembered where I was. In that asylum. Where they told me my mom was a goddess. Ha.

Then I realized something else. Nico was sitting in a chair next to my bed, head in his hands. His black, flippy hair covered his face, and he look stressed. Like he had been sitting there for a long time. And I remembered also the story Percy had told me. And I had to smile sadly at the thought. How could anyone ever do that much for someone else? For me, even? No one could really care that much, except maybe my parents. I pushed myself up, and I saw spots, but not enough to make me lie back down. Nico still didn't move.

"Nico?" I asked gently and quietly. It was barely audible, merely a whisper. I saw him sigh, but nothing else. "Nico?" I asked again, louder this time. He looked up, and I could tell he had been crying. His eyes were slightly red and puffy, and his nose still had that red tint to it. But it wasn't really his appearence that told me how much he was hurt. It was the _look_ in his eyes. The kind of look that made your heart ache for that person. It was the nothing but sadness look. THe look that told people that if sadness left me and I was empty of all emotion, I might just live a better life. ANd my heart hurt. "Nico, just tell me if this is true. All of this, the gods, the horses, the story..." my voice cracked at the end of my sentence. Looking at Nico like this... it made me think that maybe I could trust him to tell me. Nico nodded, never taking his eyes off of me. So full of sadness for someone that young. But according to Percy, I was that young anyway. I pulled myself to sit cross-legged. Partly because I wanted to sit up, partly because I didn't want Nico to see the tear that ran down my cheek. I wiped it away quickly as I adjusted my position.

There was silence while Nico and I stared sadly at the floor. He knew what had happened, and he had probably been the one who had been the most sad about... But I didn't know anything, I had no idea. What was I supposed to do, hug him? I only knew him from the year we spent as friends along with all my other friends. Then Nico stood up, and looked at me.

"I'm gonna go grab something to eat." His voice was just as hollow as his eyes. Except for the tinge of pain. But I had a feeling he had cried out most of his pain, until he was left with a throbbing numbness. He opened the door, and just as he was about to leave, I called out,

"Wait!" He stopped, and leaned back in.

"Yeah?"

"How long have I been out?" Another glimpse of pain in his eyes.

"Three days." And then the door shut and I was left alone in the room.

* * *

Staring out the window, I sighed. It was a rainy day in New York City. Water splattered the glass, and I leaned against the small part of wall before there was glass. After what felt like forever, I had gingerly gotten out of bed and made my way down the hall(it had taken me a long time). I finally found this window, and at first sight of seeing myself so high up, I almost felt like I was going to faint again. But I didn't. After what might have been an hour, I felt relativly comfortable with the scene. So far, I had seen no one since Nico had left. I felt terrible. Not physically (although I did feel pretty crappy). My heart ached and Percy's story about how Nico went down there to bring me back still played over and over in my head.

"Are you sleepin...still dreamin...still driftin off alone..." I sand quietly. Then I questioned the song. I'd never heard any song like it before. But it fit my mood, even if I had never heard it before. "It's so simple and fitting...and all that you've ever owned...is packed in the hall to go... and how am I supposed to live without you...?" A tear trickled down my cheek, and I wiped it away, leaving smeared water marks on my face. But like the rain, the tears continued to trickle down. It's the worst feeling. All of it put together. The stress, what Nico did for me, knowing that I would most likely never remember. Wiping away my tears, I stuck my hand into my pocket. I had had enough sense to grab my hoodie (yeah, really nice for a semi formal, right?). With shaking hands, I pulled out the envelope Percy had given me. I took out the pictures, and I flipped through them. Slower this time, examining each one. Now the tears wouldn't stop. They hit the warm, marble floors. I tried tow ipe them away, but there were too many. There was a lump in my throat, and my heart ached horribly. I sank to the floor, turning my back against the window. I closed my eyes, my lip trembling, tears still streaming down my face. And I could feel the time passing, and the tears still ran down my face and onto the floor. And no one passed, like usual. And soon enough, a long time after the tears had run out, and my toungue was dry, I fell asleep, still clutching onto the pictures.

* * *

"Drella? Drella!" a voice yelled. I woke up again. Wow, I needed a lot of sleep apparently. I saw Annabeth sitting on the end of my bed.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm up, I'm up..." I muttered, sitting up. She smiled.

"You hungry? I don't think you've eaten anything since Friday!" Annabeth exclaimed, handing me a bowl of soup.

"Friday...Friday... what day is it?" I asked, graciously taking the bowl. Just smelling the stuff mad me realize I was starving.

"Tuesday. We gave you some nectar and ambrosia when you were asleep sometimes, but we didn't want to give you too much, seeing as it's dangerous." I nodded as I hastily ate my soup, pretending to know what she was talking about. Annabeth cast a quick glance at the bedside table before looking at me again. I looked over. The stack of pictures were there. On top was a slightly crumpled picture of Nico hugging me, and me looking like I was on top of the world. Annabeth saw me looking, and her expression turned slightly darker.

"We found him holding that, you know," she said quietly. I stopped eating my soup.

"What?" I asked. She inhaled deeply.

"After he found out you had died, we found him in the halls of Olympus like we found you, curled up against that very window and holding onto his copy of that picture." Annabeth's voice was so quiet it was hard for me to hear. I could tell it was painful for everyone to talk about. "I'ms o sorry, I really shouldn't have brought that up... I should go..." She got up swiftly and made her way to the door. She left, leaving my door open. I was left alone.

* * *

"Drella?" Brian asked later. I nodded.

"Yeah."

"Do- do you feel better?" he asked. I coudl tell he was going to ask something else, but I didn't mention anything.

"Yeah." Brian nodded, bouncing from one foot to the other.

"Hey, Drella?" he asked again. I nodded.

"Yeah."

"Um, your mom wants to see you..." I nodded again.

"My mom."

"Uh huh."

"The goddess."

"Uh huh."

"The goddess of the hearth, fire, home, and a bunch of other stuff?"

"Uh huh." I shrugged.

"Okay." I swung myself out of bed and followed Brian out the door and into the hall. But not before I grabbed the top picture.

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**Okay, not much of a chapter, but some more info and grief and memories and yeah. Okay. But I left it off with a cliff hanger! Tell me what you think!!!!!!! -Audrey**


	19. IMPORTANT MESSAGE

**Forgotten Life**

Alright it's Audrey here.

I'm here to make some changes to this story.

So, as of RIGHT NOW, Forgotten Life is undergoing SERIOUS transformation (like a few other of my stories) and will most likely be deleted soon and uploaded under another name (or something like that).

BUT I leave you a gift and something for you to do while I'm redoing it: the prequel.

And as this MIGHT cause some problems for me FL-storyline-wise and/or being-consistent-wise, it's going to help me in the long run.

So, look for Unbreakable.

Oh, and I love all my readers-you've stuck by me even when I haven't written in months. *mwah* 3


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